The students who rushed to the rest area formed small groups and quickly and neatly formed several rows.

After a while, Instructor Dong came over staggeringly with a loudspeaker.

"Keep quiet," he shouted. "Listen carefully. I will only repeat my battlefield orders once."

Behind him followed a large group of men and women with different temperaments. Some had serious expressions and were constantly tapping on their personal terminals, recording something; others were dragging their chins with great interest, their eyes roving back and forth among the students.

Qin Yuan stood next to Gu Qiongsheng, his deep, magnetic voice whispering in her ear as he introduced: "The one speaking is the chief instructor of the First War College. To his left is the lieutenant colonel of the Silver Glory Corps. To his right is the staff officer of the Starry Sky Corps. The woman next to them is from the Second War College, and behind them is a first-level researcher from the Starry Sky Laboratory..."

The more Gu Qiongsheng listened, the more frightened he became.

It is worthy of being the first inter-school league after the revision, and it is worthy of being the federation, what a big move.

All the top colleges and universities were present, and even the three major legions had sent representatives... No, now there were only two major legions left, and Chenxi was now just an "empty shell" burdened with guilt.

As the thought flashed through his mind, Gu Qiongsheng felt a little tight in his chest.

Just at this moment, a man on the side looked away and his gaze fell on Gu Qiongsheng.

The look in his eyes was very unique, somewhat suspicious and mixed with some disdain, and his strange gaze kept moving around Gu Qiongsheng.

Qin Yuan whispered, "That's Xu Maoxing, the gold medal investigator from the First War College."

Gu Qiongsheng tilted his head in confusion.

Gold Medal Investigator? Know her?

When did this happen? How come she has no recollection of it?

At this moment, the huge screen in front of the rest area suddenly lit up.

A documentary was playing.

Gu Qiongsheng's attention was drawn and he briefly put aside the matter of the gold medal investigator.

After years of development, the Federation's video and projection technology has reached perfection, and one exquisite picture after another is presented to Gu Qiongsheng: clear water, blue sky, and endless colorful clouds. The camera passes over the tops of endless mountains, and the forest sea in the rosy clouds rises and falls with the wind, like endless waves.

Immediately, the scene changed.

This time, what appeared was a city, a prosperous city to the extreme, with tall buildings and overlapping overpasses. At night, colorful neon lights lit up from far to near, shrouding the entire city in rainbow-like dreamy light and shadow.

There are people, all kinds of people.

Adults, children, women, old people... walking and talking on the streets, or riding the latest urban airships through the sky. The whole picture is warm and peaceful, and extremely lively.

Instructor Dong said solemnly, "What you are seeing now is the planet Weilun, which was not attacked by the Zerg 20 years ago."

"As for what it looks like now..."

He paused, then shook his head mockingly: "Forget it, wait until you little bastards see it for yourself."

"The map of the assessment area has been transmitted to your personal terminals. During the competition, any leaks of this information, such as taking photos and posting them on Weibo, are prohibited... I hope none of you are that foolish."

Changing the subject, Instructor Dong pondered and said, “But even if you have it, you can’t send it out.”

"Wei Lun Star's network system has just been rebuilt and hasn't yet been connected to the Star Network. This means you can only use the information downloaded to your terminal to communicate within the team."

"Okay, now, all team leaders come up and draw your task tickets."

As he spoke, Instructor Dong took out a box from behind him, slapped the top of the box hard a few times, and then reached in and took out a small ball from it.

Instructor Dong crushed the small ball and took out a small chip from it. He unfolded it in front of the students and said, "See? Inside the chip are your initial tasks and related materials."

"When the spacecraft approaches Weilun Star, you will be dropped off at various locations. All you have to do is use everything you have to complete your mission as quickly as possible and receive new ones."

"Every time you complete a mission, the system will grant you a certain number of team points. If a mission is unfinished, you'll have another chance to renew it in five hours, but you'll lose 5 points. A second attempt will result in a 20-point deduction, and a third attempt will result in a complete elimination. On the battlefield, a soldier who fails to complete a mission, no matter what excuse, is worthless."

"Protect your mission! Some teams may receive the same mission, while others may receive opposite missions. This is an intelligence war, understand?"

The students' expressions suddenly became stern.

The same task may not be shared, which means that only one team can complete it, and the remaining teams will waste time and consume an opportunity to refresh the task.

Opposite missions mean complete hostility between each other.

The smiles on the students' faces disappeared, and the relaxed atmosphere suddenly disappeared, replaced by an indescribable tension.

They looked at each other and felt that the person next to them with thick eyebrows and big eyes did not look like a good person.

The captains lined up and drew balls from the box in Instructor Dong's hand.

Gu Qiongsheng took the ball but did not crush it immediately.

She returned to the team, gestured to her teammates to "calm down", and listened quietly to Instructor Dong explain the rest of the rules.

"Conflicts are inevitable during missions."

Instructor Dong grabbed a suitcase from the side and took out several round, flat blocks the size of ping-pong balls. He grinned at the students, "These are sensors. Everyone should attach them to their left shoulder. If there's a conflict between teams, smash the sensors on each other's shoulders to eliminate them."

"The eliminated team members will be taken back to the safe zone by the robots and wait for the end of the competition. However, if your team can continue to complete the mission, you will still have the opportunity to earn team points."

"Don't try to play tricks—the sensor is equipped with a pinhole camera that can record your every move. Of course, we will avoid situations where you need to go to the bathroom, but pay attention, there are not only team scores, but also individual scores in this competition. Any choices you make and any methods you take to complete the task will become a key part of the final individual score!"

The students were shocked again.

——The points earned by completing the task are team points, and the points given by the examiner are individual points. Finally, they are added together in a certain ratio to get a person’s final score.

This means that you cannot just think about the task. If the means of completing the task are extreme and the method is dishonorable, you are very likely to lose the favor of the examiner and result in a lower personal score.

Seeing that the students were a little nervous, Instructor Dong smiled again and said, "Of course, different examiners have different preferences, so don't force yourself too much."

"Let me tell you straight up, although individual points are important, mission points are the cornerstone of everything."

"In a score, individual points are the string of zeros at the end, but team points are the one at the front. If the task isn't completed, without that one, all the zeros are meaningless."

"Do you understand everything?"

The last shout was so powerful that the students stood at attention and responded in unison, "Got it!"

Instructor Dong waved his hand. "Got it? Prepare for landing. The competition lasts 15 hours, so make good use of your time. Oh, and one more thing: don't be too aggressive when facing your competitors."

"Although you are enemies now, when you go to the battlefield in the future, you will be comrades from the same class, brothers and sisters who can trust each other and are more like family than family."

"I hope you not only understand competition, but also understand the overall situation and unity."

The man emphasized these words, as if he had a hidden meaning.

But when Gu Qiongsheng concentrated his attention and wanted to hear any other suggestions, Instructor Dong stopped talking and just stood aside, watching the staff distribute sensors, landing packs and power boots to the students.

After getting the equipment, Gu Qiongsheng led his teammates out of the lounge, found a secluded corner, and squeezed the ball.

Import the terminal, read the chip, and a line of small words will be displayed on the screen:

On the eve of the fall, someone discovered a blue luminescent mineral at the Weilun Waste Recycling Station, but due to the sudden collapse of the front lines overnight, samples could not be collected in time. Please find this blue ore and submit it to the Starry Sky Research Institute. In return, the institute will pay a considerable amount of points.

It comes with a brief description of the ore and the designated delivery location for the task.

"Collecting items?"

Gu Qiongsheng frowned slightly: "Hmm... I feel like we'll be clashing with other teams on the mission."

From a practical perspective, such tasks often involve casting a wide net. There may be many participants, but the highest reward will only go to the first person to complete the task.

"If I were the research institute, I would definitely give a high score to the first team to recover the ore. The second and third might get a share of the spoils, but I probably wouldn't even bother to look at the rest."

It is valuable only because it is rare. If it is everywhere, who would be willing to pay for it?

Zhou Qing also frowned, but her doubts were different from those of the others.

"Sister Qiongsheng, why is there ore in the wastewater treatment plant?"

The thin girl pondered: "I don't think this makes sense. Maybe this ore was separated from some kind of waste liquid, a new product precipitated after the dissolution reaction of certain compounds..."

Gu Qiongsheng nodded.

This speculation is not without reason.

Moreover, Zhou Qing's family is engaged in waste liquid treatment and knows more about this aspect, so her opinions should be taken seriously.

"Anyway, let's get there first."

Gu Qiongsheng clicked on the map, his amber eyes illuminating with a brilliant blue light. "Wei Lun Waste Liquid Treatment Plant... Got it, N39°23, E28°32, right here."

Her white finger tapped lightly on the map.

Qin Yuan looked down for a while and whispered, "This is the map before the fall."

"The entire planet of Weilun is now collapsing inwards. The previous position can only be used as a reference. However, since the authorities have marked it as a task for assessment, they must have already explored it in advance."

"There's another problem. The assessment area shown on the map is very large. Even with power boots, if the landing position is too far from the mission location, it will greatly increase our time consumption."

As soon as the words fell, the broadcast came out:

[The spacecraft has approached the surface. Students, please hurry to the landing bay to line up. The second round of competition is about to begin.]

Obviously, they will be thrown out one by one according to the order of queue.

Seeing this, Han Tianming said with a bitter face: "It's about to start, what should we do? We can't decide where to land."

"They're all random. What if they're thrown too far?"

Qin Yuan raised his head and smiled at her gently.

"That's all right," he said. "I've got an idea."

…

After being ejected from the landing capsule, Gu Qiongsheng finally saw the full picture of Weilun Star through the goggles.

In stark contrast to the prosperous scenes in the documentary played by Instructor Dong, the planet in front of her looked like a piece of limp plasticine that had been grabbed by something and kneaded a few times, then curled up into a messy block with strange sharp edges on all four sides.

The surface of the planet is covered with a thick layer of grayish white.

The wind whistled, blowing up a huge amount of dust, which blew upwards.

When approaching the ground, the jet at the bottom of the landing bag spewed out two clusters of blue flames, and Gu Qiongsheng also stabilized his body and slowly landed on the ground.

The white ash underfoot was blown away by the sprayer, raising a cloud of dust and revealing the mottled ground below.

Ravines and gullies are everywhere on the land.

Covering his mouth and nose, Gu Qiongsheng frowned: "...So depressing."

Very depressed.

All that can be seen is dust, ruins and sand, with no signs of life. All that can be heard is the monotonous, unchanging whistling of the wind and the buzzing of the filming drones circling in the air.

Zhou Qing landed beside her and looked at the desolate Weilun Star, lost in thought. "This, this is even more desolate than my home."

Gu Qiongsheng nodded: "Yes, it doesn't look like what he looks like in the video at all."

Looking at the dilapidated and desolate Weilun Star in front of her, she felt a little heavy.

Gu Qiongsheng felt the intention of Instructor Dong in playing the video, and also realized the intention of the Federation to choose this planet as the venue for the league - if one day the Zerg really broke into Tianyuan Star, the planet they lived and cherished would also turn into a scorched earth with no trace of people, just like what was happening before their eyes.

The people they care about will also turn into ashes floating in the wind along with all the lives on the planet.

Taking a deep breath, Gu Qiongsheng pursed his lips.

Then she turned around, adjusted her attitude, and smiled at her team members, "Come, let's see how lucky we are today—hmm, it's so close, only ten kilometers!"

The map showed that the place where they landed was unexpectedly close to the Weilun Waste Liquid Treatment Plant!

Gu Qiongsheng turned around in surprise. Not far away, Qin Yuan, who had just landed, smiled at her gently.

Even with the protection of a landing bag and protective clothing, falling from a high altitude was still a bit difficult for the young man. At this moment, his hair was messy, his lips were blue, and his face looked pale and fragile.

Gu Qiongsheng quickly gave him a shot of milk.

After the treatment, Qin Yuan looked much better.

Gu Qiongsheng asked hurriedly: "How did you do it?"

The competition area is as large as 2,000 square kilometers. It is incredible to land accurately within ten kilometers of the destination from a high altitude.

Qin Yuan smiled modestly: "I'm lucky."

"I saw the spacecraft flying in an arc in the air, and by calculating its direction, the wind speed on the planet's surface, and the deviation coefficient when landing at high altitude..."

He said a lot, but only Tan Yao seemed to understand in the team.

Gu Qiongsheng covered his head and said, "Forget it, forget it. It's enough for me to know that you are very powerful."

"Go, go, go! Everyone activate your power boots! We have to be the first team to reach the mission destination!"

…

High in the sky, retired warships are quietly suspended.

Countless drones were circling over the planet Weilun, and their cameras were working diligently to capture the performance of each student one by one and transmit it back to the spacecraft in a timely manner.

At this moment in the spacecraft command room, examiners from various colleges and research institutes have a screen in front of them. They can freely switch between various cameras to observe different teams.

Intelligent AI also runs at high speed, performing efficient data analysis and screening at all times to ensure that all valuable images are transmitted to the examiner's screen.

At the front of the command room is a large screen with countless small red dots marking the current locations of the students.

Instructor Dong stared at the screen, his legs crossed in boredom. He raised his hand and drew a circle on the screen: "That, that, and that... Anyway, if the landing site is more than 30 kilometers away from the mission target, all personal scores will be deducted by 3 points."

The staff member in charge of recording the scores was stunned for a moment, then asked with a wry smile, "Instructor, isn't this too harsh?"

"They also landed randomly. It was just bad luck at best."

Instructor Dong raised his hand to scratch his ear and curled his lips, saying, "If you have bad luck, then you should use your strength to seize the opportunity."

He nodded at the screen. "I clearly gave them plenty of time. From disbanding to lining up for landing, there's over twenty minutes in between. If they were serious about this, they should have made some plans, right?"

"Foolishly not making any preparations, luck doesn't matter on the battlefield. If you miss the opportunity to fight, do you know what a terrible outcome that will be?"

Instructor Dong's voice was rough and deep, floating back and forth in the command room.

Staff: “…”

He is indeed a devil instructor, showing no mercy at all.

He nodded helplessly and deducted points from the record list one by one.

On the planet Weilun, the students who were searching aimlessly for their mission targets did not know that many of them had already been burdened with negative points as soon as they landed.

Gu Qiongsheng and his group are moving forward at full speed.

Although the power boots contain the word "boots" in their name, they are actually small skateboard-shaped aircraft. When you step on them, you can hover off the ground and move forward quickly.

It’s just that it’s difficult to control and requires a high level of body balance.

However, those who can stand here are elite students who are determined to become psychic warriors. They have excellent balance and it is not difficult for them to control a small power boot.

As we moved forward, some large ruins gradually appeared on both sides.

But in the ruins, there was a huge crack in the ground, and the bottom was so deep that it was impossible to see.

The building also fell into the gap. With the invasion of the Zerg and the disappearance of the planet's core energy, the high walls that originally protected mankind collapsed in an instant, turning into a bunch of strange-shaped discarded steel bars.

A few people were afraid that the crack in the ground was unsafe, so they carefully kept a distance along the way to avoid getting too close to the crack.

However, Tan Yao kept flying close to the ground, completely ignoring the rugged ruins on the surface. He almost hit the protruding earth slopes several times, which made Gu Qiongsheng secretly worry for him.

Not only was Tan Yao flying close to the ground, he was also constantly picking up things along the way.

Gu Qiongsheng leaned over to take a look and found that most of what he picked up were some electronic components and small parts that fell from some unknown machine.

"It's badly worn," Tan Yao said, frowning as he held a palm-sized, gray connector. "It must have been affected by the magnetic field turmoil after the Earth's core went out."

Gu Qiongsheng took the parts from him and whispered "holy light". The rust on the parts was immediately washed away and they returned to their shiny appearance.

“Here, it works.”

She smiled and handed the part back.

Tan Yao: “…”

No matter how many times I see it, it still shocks me.

He silently put away the parts and continued to pick and choose in the ruins. After a while, his backpack was stuffed full.

At this time, the group was approaching their destination.

But what they saw before them was still the same ruins. The strong wind blew the dust and sand all over the sky. The tall buildings collapsed and there were faint cracks in the ground. It was impossible to tell the specific location of the "Wei Lun Waste Liquid Treatment Plant".

Holding the map, Gu Qiongsheng carefully compared it for a long time: "...It should be around here."

Putting down the map, she looked at the barren mountain ruins in front of her, feeling a little worried: "How exactly do I find it?"

Qin Yuan's voice came from behind: "Wei Lun Star is a planet discovered by the Federation in the early days. It is rich in rare metals such as plutonium, nickel, and titanium."

"These are important materials used in the production of spacecraft. To save transportation costs, processing plants are often built very close to the mines."

"If I'm not mistaken, this waste liquid treatment plant in the mission is used to treat the chemical waste liquid generated by spacecraft processing."

Zhou Qing took over his conversation: "If it's used for early waste liquid processing, then I roughly know the location of the treatment plant."

"In the early days of the Federation, the pace of outward expansion was very rapid, and they didn't care much for mineral-rich planets. Most of the waste treatment plants were built underground, allowing them to discharge the valueless waste directly into the mantle..."

Gu Qiongsheng took a deep breath.

Built underground?

Then they have no chance of finding any clues from the ground.

Moreover, the earth's crust is now twisted, and the buildings on the ground have collapsed into this state. Who knows what the underground will look like?

Tan Yao suddenly stood up and said, "I have an idea."

He looked at Gu Qiongsheng: "You can try, but... I need your mental strength to help."

…

Spacecraft control room.

The screen in front of the examiner was divided into many pieces, but at this moment, many examiners focused their attention on a camera point in the upper left corner.

The picture shows A1056, Gu Qiongsheng's team.

There was no other way. Their landing location was relatively close and the mission progressed quickly.

Instructor Dong looked at the screen and nodded repeatedly: "Not bad, we have found the key area."

The other teams were still traveling at full speed, and some of them with poor sense of direction even strayed into the abnormal magnetic field area. The positioning system in their personal terminals completely failed, and now they were wandering around like headless flies.

Instructor Dong got annoyed when he saw those things, and with a wave of his hand, he deducted points from everyone.

He immediately stroked the stubble on his chin and stared at Gu Qiongsheng's team with interest. "Reaching the designated location is only the first step. Let me see, how are you going to find the mission site from this completely identical area on the surface... Hmm?"

An astonishing scene appeared.

Gu Qiongsheng's team members gathered together, and after a while, they took out one mechanical mouse after another from their backpacks?

Although they are called mechanical mice, they look ugly. They are gray like balls and have bumpy surfaces.

Their movements were quite flexible. Under Tan Yao's control, they drilled into the cracks in the ground around them.

Instructor Dong was shocked.

"What's going on?" He turned around in surprise. "Isn't each person only allowed to carry 5kg of supplies?"

The staff member hurriedly rewound the footage and, after carefully examining it for a moment, exclaimed in amazement, "These... appear to have been made by themselves using parts they picked up along the way."

"That's impossible."

Wei Lan's voice came from behind: "The magnetic field is turbulent, and almost all the electrical equipment on Wei Lun Star is damaged. Even if he can really find the corresponding parts, where will the energy come from?"

Instructor Dong pondered for a moment: "Could it be that the power source of the power boots has been dismantled?"

This is a bit too bold.

Although a hidden supply point has been set up on Weilun Star, it is still some distance away from the current location of Gu Qiongsheng's team.

Instructor Dong looked at the main screen covered with red dots and wondered if they were going to give up mobility later.

"Hmm... I can't say whether it's good or bad." Instructor Dong frowned. "Energy is ultimately limited. If they use it here, their subsequent actions will be restricted."

Another teacher from the Second War College nearby showed an admiring look and exclaimed, "That's already pretty impressive."

"He picked parts from a pile of scrap and assembled them in such a short time. Most importantly, he was able to move flexibly... What's this guy's name?"

When he heard him ask Tan Yao's name, Wei Lan immediately stood up like a cat whose tail was stepped on, "Don't even think about it, I've already decided on this child!"

The teacher was stunned for a moment, then nodded: "Research Institute?"

"That's right, this mechanical talent is indeed more suitable for you guys."

Listening to them constantly praising Gu Qiongsheng's team, Instructor Dong stared at the screen and shook his head secretly.

“But that’s a bit short-sighted.”

He muttered softly, "For this one mission, they're already consuming vital energy... Sigh, I'm afraid this A1056 team won't make it to the end."

Instructor Dong sighed a little when he thought of the many traps specially designed for the future.

Just at this moment, the picture on the screen changed.

A mechanical mouse crawled under a huge rock, vaguely detected something, and was now returning to the ground, spinning in circles.

The teacher at the Second War College's eyes lit up.

"They found the entrance!"

“So fast!”