...Go to the safe zone to rest?

Lu Yuanji and others immediately frowned.

Sheng Zhang's words were equivalent to voluntarily giving up the competition.

Examiners certainly don't want to see this kind of performance.

In other words, even if Team A012 can still complete the mission and win team points for Sheng Zhang, his personal points will probably be deducted.

Sheng Zhang groaned and smiled bitterly, "There's nothing I can do about it."

He covered his head, his voice hoarse, "You're all fine, but I'm the only one like this. I probably fell into a trap by accident."

"If the pain continues like this, I won't even be able to walk. Even if I insist on carrying out the next mission, I will only become a burden to you. When we face the siege again, will you distract yourself to protect me, or abandon me?"

"The weak teams are gradually being eliminated, and the ones left behind are all strong teams. Boss Ling is also exhausted right now. If he distracts himself from protecting me, it might cause everyone to be eliminated."

"But if you abandon me at the last minute, it would be considered abandoning your teammates. Wouldn't that result in a point deduction?"

Everyone was silent.

Sheng Zhang's condition did look very bad.

His face was pale and he was sweating profusely. The protective suit on his back was wet and stuck tightly to his spine. He stumbled when he walked, and his calves were so weak that he seemed to have no strength left.

He hissed, inhaling, "It hurts, it hurts so much, like a needle prick—oh, okay, stop hesitating, let me back out on my own, so that no one can get hung up on it."

"If you delay any further, be careful that someone else will come and steal the quest items."

These words made the others feel a chill in their hearts.

Indeed, they had already obtained the potion, so it was not suitable for them to stay here for too long. Even if they were strong, they would still lose their strength after fighting for a long time.

Especially since this is the first task of the competition.

They have to deliver quickly, then recharge their batteries and go get more points right away.

“Then just quit,” Lu Yuanji frowned and said unhappily, “You gave up on your own, don’t blame us.”

Zhao Qingke nodded repeatedly.

Although in her eyes, Sheng Zhang's act of giving up was a waste of talent.

It's just giving up the league.

If it were her, what would a headache do?

Even if she has to crawl or lie paralyzed, she will stay in the team just to get extra points.

...But now, Sheng Zhang's weakness is a foregone conclusion, and his voluntary withdrawal will undoubtedly benefit the team and her.

So Zhao Qingke stepped aside and stopped persuading him.

Wang Mingzi watched worriedly from the side, his clothes wrinkled with nervousness, his lips moved a few times, but in the end he didn't say anything.

Although it was a pity for Sheng Zhang to do this, he did not have the right to interrupt in this team.

Ling Kaixuan said: "Have you decided?"

Sheng Zhang nodded.

He gathered his mental strength at his fingertips and smashed the sensor on his shoulder with force.

The tiny needle instantly pierced into the boy's body, releasing the anesthetic, causing him to fall limply.

The protective robot was just dealing with the student who was ruthlessly "killed" by Ling Kaixuan. Seeing this, it quickly popped out its robotic arm, grabbed Sheng Zhang's collar, and dragged him away accurately.

After watching the robot leave, everyone turned around.

"Let's go," Lu Yuanji said, "let's go and deliver the mission."

…

On the other side, Gu Qiongsheng and his team were also heading towards the delivery area.

Perhaps because the fake ore attracted most of the attention, they had no danger along the way. Although they encountered some interception teams, they were all easily dealt with by the team members.

The results of the special training are gradually emerging.

Especially Han Tianming.

Although she is not good at analysis or mechanics, combat is clearly her forte.

With the help of Gu Qiongsheng's skills, anyone who was stared at by his hypnotic mental power would faint. His purple pupils seemed like a dream. With a blink of his eyes, his long eyelashes trembled slightly. His mental power spread out like pouring water. Even the seed teams from other schools would have a delay ranging from half a second to several seconds.

In battle, half a second can decide a lot of things.

Gradually, the team members almost developed a tacit understanding. When encountering the enemy, they liked to remain in place and wait for Han Tianming to take action first.

——After all, it feels great to let the enemy stand still and let them shatter the sensor.

In the end, even Tan Yao couldn't help but mutter, "Hypnosis department, is it so awesome?"

Han Tianming smiled sweetly and made a "yeah" gesture to him: "Of course."

After a pause, she said sheepishly, "But hypnosis really consumes a lot of mental energy. Thanks to the captain for always helping me replenish it."

Powerful abilities naturally bring about huge consumption.

If Gu Qiongsheng hadn't been there, Han Tianming would have been exhausted and had a splitting headache before he could even hold the enemy in place for half a second.

Chatting leisurely, the group gradually approached the task delivery area.

The destination is a plain.

From a distance, you can see a tall robot standing in the open space. It is silver-white in color, with its indicator light off, and is on standby.

When Gu Qiongsheng and the others approached, the robot detected the sensor, a string of bright blue lights lit up above its head, and a huge screen on its chest popped up instantly.

【Hello, please enter your team number. 】

[Team A1056, your initial mission is to find ore samples.]

【Do you want to submit the task now? 】

"yes."

【Please put the ore into the storage space.】

Gu Qiongsheng put the ore into the robot's body. It paused for a moment, and a string of colorful lights lit up above its head. The electronic sound also became much more cheerful.

[Congratulations to Team A1056 for completing the task, +5 points for the team!]

【Do you want to accept other tasks? 】

Gu Qiongsheng turned around and cast a probing look at his teammates.

Her teammates all nodded at her.

Despite drilling holes, carrying ore, and defeating several small groups, Zhou Qing and the others didn't feel tired at all. Gu Qiongsheng's skills were so effective that they even felt more energetic than when they first got off the spacecraft, their bodies surging with endless energy.

So Gu Qiongsheng said, "Accept it."

[Assigning tasks... Beep, connecting to communication...]

After a moment, a communication interface popped up on the machine's interface.

The name of the correspondence is shown as: Research Institute.

Inside was a snow-white room, which seemed to be a temporary wooden house built on the planet Weilun. Through the window on the screen, Gu Qiongsheng could see the continuous mountains, cracked earth and flying white ash. Inside the room were various instruments and equipment, which kept beeping.

After a while, people finally appeared in the picture.

A tall, middle-aged man wearing a protective mask waved at the screen. "Wow, you're really fast! You've already found the ore?"

"Don't worry, the transport will bring the ore back to the institute. Your next task... well, let me take a look..."

"By the way, someone said they found a small number of larvae left behind by the Zerg during their retreat in the southwest X10 area. I'd like you to investigate."

"Of course, even if it's just larvae, it's not something you little guys can handle. You just need to investigate. Once you find any problems, immediately—"

His voice stopped abruptly.

The team members who were using their personal terminals to record the mission content were stunned and looked up.

The screen suddenly turned blood red!

Accompanied by a shrill scream: "Ah! What's going on? Why did the Zerg appear in the research institute?!"

"Quick, call for help, request assistance!"

The instruments in the room were running frantically, the small lights were flashing and crackling, and the communication screen seemed to be under attack. The picture spun violently several times and was aimed at the pale ceiling.

Gu Qiongsheng frowned slightly and tapped the screen with his slender hands: "Hey, what's wrong? What's going on?"

She was answered by roars, curses, and a gurgling sound that sounded like a huge hill crawling on the mud.

There was the crackling sound of sparks flying and the sound of a blunt knife entering flesh.

It seemed as if something was split open and crushed, with fragments mixed with blood flowing all over the ground, slowly covering the communication equipment.

A moment later, a hurried shout came over the communication: "Stand still! Wait for rescue—No, that's not right. Don't stay where you are and wait to die. Smash the sensor immediately and head to the safe zone. There are security measures there!"

"The competition is suspended, the competition is in progress--Ah!!"

With a swish.

The screen flashed white.

Gu Qiongsheng stared with his eyes wide open without blinking, vaguely seeing a black shadow flash by, with a narrow body dragging countless forelimbs, the knife gleaming and stained with scarlet blood.

It was like the shadow of a blood moon.

A cold light flashed, and the blade chopped straight down at the screen!

The sense of crisis that almost broke through the screen was too real. Gu Qiongsheng's heart stopped beating for a moment and he subconsciously dodged to the side.

The next moment, it seemed as if the remote signal was cut off, and the screen in front of her suddenly went out.

Everything returns to tranquility.

The whistling wind passed by my ears, as if it was a huge net, trapping the white ash floating in the air from the entire planet. When it hit me in the face, I felt a slight pain like the scratching of sand.

Gu Qiongsheng just felt it was ridiculous.

She turned around and looked at the team members who were also looking at each other in confusion, and couldn't help asking, "Is this video...real or fake?"

…

On the spacecraft, several examiners who had been tracking the latest progress of Team A1056 were so shocked by the bloody video pressing against their faces that they jumped up from their seats.

"What's going on?"

They screamed, "Is there really a Zerg invasion?"

Fortunately, a female voice came from behind, calmly and unhurriedly.

"It's fake, don't worry."

Lieutenant Colonel Zhou had been staring at Qin Yuan, so he naturally saw what they had experienced.

She casually tucked her long hair behind her ear, revealing a lustrous pale blue earring on her earlobe. She said nonchalantly, "Although it's very realistic, a real rift worm is more than this level."

Staff Officer Wu also nodded frequently.

Both of them had fought their way out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and were extremely sensitive to the scent of insects. They could detect clues even through layers of screens.

However, this may not be the case for students on the planet Weilun.

Although the students have undergone systematic training and used the simulation cabin in the training room, simulation and the real thing are ultimately two different things.

The AI ​​technology of the interstellar era can simulate realistic Zerg and produce more realistic video images.

"Yes, this is my arrangement. It is indeed fake."

Instructor Dong grinned. "Let's add some fun to their competition. It would be boring just doing one task after another."

"From now on, the second round of competition has officially begun."

He stared at the screen with a smile, looking at Team A1056 who seemed to be in confusion and arguing, and stroked his chin.

"Let me see, what will you choose?"

…

Among the teams participating in the inter-school league, the vast majority of students only know the name of the rift worm but have never heard of it.

They had seen this insect in books, knew its appearance and combat habits, and knew that it liked to hide in the dark, but would suddenly burst out when humans passed by, wielding its sharp, cold knives like a forest, capable of slicing a living person into pieces.

But that's just knowing.

It was different from watching the researcher being cut and stabbed through the tiny screen, blood gushing all over the floor, and hearing the screams and roars that almost broke through the screen.

More than one team completed the initial mission.

The students watched the tragedy on the screen with their own eyes, seeing the researcher desperately grabbing his weapon and rushing towards the rift worm, but still unable to escape the fate of being torn to pieces - the joy of having just completed the task was gone, and only astonishment and horror remained in their hearts.

The screams were heart-wrenching.

Even through the screen, one can almost smell the stench and blood coming towards him.

Someone's hands were shaking, and his voice was dry: "What's going on?"

He looked at his teammates with trembling eyes: "Are there still Zerg remnants on this planet?"

His teammates were also at a loss, looking at each other with confused eyes: "It seems... yes?"

"Fuck!" the boy clutched his head in agony. "What the hell is the Federation doing?! If there are Zerg, we're doomed!"

"A rift worm, that's a rift worm!"

And according to the live footage transmitted from the screen, there was more than one.

Their small bodies are not strong enough for others to cut them off in one fell swoop!

Some people forced themselves to remain calm: "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid. We can see this video, and the examiners must have received the news. They will save us."

As he spoke, he hurriedly opened his personal terminal.

Black screen.

A line of small text flashes in the center of the screen: No link detected, please try again later.

That person: “…”

The girl next to him said cautiously: "Have you ever thought that this video might be fake?"

"Could it be a trap set by the examiner?"

The boy who spoke first had a gloomy face, his fingers tightly twisting the corner of his clothes: "...Fake?"

He recalled the video footage and couldn't help but shudder again.

It's so real, so real that it's creepy.

Scarlet saliva dribbled from the mouths of the insects that suddenly flashed by, scarlet flesh shreds visible between their teeth. Broken limbs, their cuts jagged and uneven, lay scattered on the ground, piled among the messy wires and sheets of instruments...

"No, it can't be fake!"

The boy shivered, his calves weak, and he had to slowly squat on the ground: "This is terrible, this is terrible - let's go to the safe zone, right away, okay?"

"There are some defense facilities there, but we have nothing here!"

The girl looked at him worriedly, her lips slightly parted, as if she wanted to say something.

The boy interrupted her mercilessly: "I know, this might be a trap, but do you dare to bet?"

"I'm gambling my life on whether this is just some kind of bad taste from the examiner."

He tugged at the corner of his clothes in frustration, crushed the sensor with his backhand, and said with an extremely grim expression: "If you want to gamble, go ahead and do it. I don't want it."

girl:"……"

She sighed helplessly.

Similar things happened in every corner of Weilun Star. On the spaceship, the examiner could clearly see all the students' reactions at that moment through the big screen.

Frightened, timid, shrinking, at a loss, forcing myself to be calm, eager to try...

Everyone has their own unique face, which is revealed at this moment.

The examiners will see everything.

“There is no standard answer for this step.”

Instructor Dong smiled with satisfaction: "Everyone can add or subtract points according to their own preferences."

The examiners nodded.

How one behaves in the face of a crisis is the best indicator of a person's true character, and the examiners had different preferences. Some preferred teams that followed instructions and their discipline, while others favored teams that showed courage in the face of a crisis and their fearlessness and determination to move forward.

However, the most popular teams are those who can calm down quickly and analyze the situation seriously.

For example—

Instructor Dong switched the screen and the camera was aimed at Team A1056.

After seeing the video of the Zerg wreaking havoc, the other teams were more or less in a state of chaos, but Team A1056 seemed extremely calm from beginning to end.

On the screen, Gu Qiongsheng is asking his teammates for their opinions: "Do you think this video is real or fake?"

Zhou Qing: "Although I don't know the reason, I feel it's fake."

Having faced simulated rift worms many times in the training grounds, she had a strong intuition at this moment that the worms in the picture were still in simulated form.

Han Tianming: "It must be fake."

The hypnotic mental power gave her more delicate emotions. The despair in the eyes of the researcher who was brutally murdered in the picture was very realistic, but in her eyes, it still revealed a subtle difference.

Tan Yao curled his lips: "Fake."

No matter how realistic the images were, they were edited and synthesized by AI, and he noticed something was wrong.

As for Qin Yuan, it’s even simpler.

"The lighting, the camera angle, the spurting blood..." the young man slowly listed off a long list. "The first half is probably real, but the AI ​​simulation has been incorporated since the Zerg appeared."

"The reason it's so realistic is because it's edited and integrated with real footage, but if you analyze it carefully, there are still some problems."

"Um."

Gu Qiongsheng nodded: "I think so too."

The incident broke out too abruptly. Moreover, the researcher was assigning them the task of "investigating the Zerg" just a moment ago, and the tragedy happened the next moment. This really makes people suspicious.

On the spaceship, the examiners looked at each other in bewilderment as they watched this scene.

...No way.

No one from Team A1056 hesitated?

See through it all?

The examiners subconsciously looked at Instructor Dong who designed all this.

Instructor Dong looked a little disappointed, but when he saw Gu Qiongsheng and others expose his tricks without hesitation, he felt regretful but also genuinely excited.

"Is he so capable in combat and so calm and collected?"

He became more and more convinced of Team A1056.

but……

"After seeing through it, what are you going to do?"

Instructor Gao muttered to himself, "Should we wait here, or go to the southwest X10 area mentioned in the previous mission?"

The screen's bright blue light flickered, reflected in his dark pupils.

Waiting there is undoubtedly a passive attitude. It is okay for other teams that have not seen the truth of the video, but for A1056, Instructor Gao hopes to see them perform even better.

But going to the southwest X10 area is not a good choice either.

Their current location is very far away from the Southwest X10 area, and it takes a lot of time to go back and forth. Moreover, knowing that the video is fake, the "mission" mentioned by those researchers is also likely to be fictitious.

Instructor Dong murmured, "Hurry up and make a decision. Time is the most precious resource..."

His voice suddenly stopped.

Because on the screen, Team A1056 did not stay where they were for long, but instead put on power boots and sped towards the hills in the distance.

But the direction they were heading was not southwest X10 area, and was even completely opposite to X10 area.

Instructor Dong watched all this in amazement, bewildered: "Where are they going?"

"This direction... Shit, are they going to Area X1?"

…

Time goes back ten minutes.

Qin Yuan half-knelt on the ground, picked up a stone next to him, and drew lines on the ground.

"Although the video just now is half true and half false, it can reveal a lot of details."

He sketched casually, depicting the outline of the hills. The rolling hills shone brightly in the dim light through the simple window he drew.

"Remember this window in the first half of the real-life video?"

Qin Yuan opened the map on his personal terminal and pointed to a corner of the screen. He spoke in a gentle voice, "Combining the background, lighting, shadow position and length, and the current environment of Weilun Star, we can determine that the first half of the video was filmed in real time. And if nothing unexpected happens, it should be in Area X1 of Weilun Star."

"As I said earlier, this video looks incredibly realistic because a long section of it was filmed in real time. The filming location is Area X1, which means..."

The boulder drew a light circle on the ground, enveloping the hill.

"The examiner pretending to be a researcher is in Area X1."

As he spoke, the young man raised his head and smiled at Gu Qiongsheng.

"Because of this video, we were unable to receive subsequent tasks."

"So, how about going to Area X1 and trying to find them on the spot?"

Zhou Qing said hesitantly, "Can you find it?"

"Area X1 is huge, isn't it too difficult to find a small house in such a large area?"

Tan Yao said, "Don't worry."

He walked up quickly and started tapping on the robot that had returned to standby mode. After a while, he removed a piece of the outer shell, revealing the dense wiring inside.

After some tinkering, the robot's screen lit up again.

——They actually attacked the hardware and forcibly cracked the standby mode!

This time, a long string of code appeared on the screen.

Qin Yuan's slender hands landed on the console, his five fingers tapping rapidly, lightly typing out strings of characters. Before long, the coordinates of a location appeared on the screen.

——By tracking the source of the video signal, combined with the previously confirmed approximate scope of the X1 area, he was able to quickly locate the coordinates of the signal source!

Now it's all done.

Gu Qiongsheng's lips curled up into a smile, her unpainted face fair and smooth, her eyes twinkling with cunning. "The power boots are fully charged, let's go."

Go to Area X1 and give the examiners a surprise.

…

Weilun Star, Area X1.

In a simple room built on site, a man in a white coat was packing up equipment and dozing off out of boredom.

"Finally, the filming is over," he complained. "If you ask me, wouldn't it be enough to use AI simulation? Why did we have to come here alone?"

The man was not from the military, but a federal celebrity invited by the senior instructor.

In order to use superb acting skills to present this realistic "Zerg Invasion" that will scare all students.

When the young star was first invited to perform for the Star League, he was very excited. This would undoubtedly become a shining moment in his career.

Moreover, the war is tense now, and the Federation is promoting the de-entertainment policy. The stars' lives are not as good as before - unless they cooperate with the Federation and participate in short films with political significance rather than financial transactions.

But the little star never expected that after he signed the confidentiality agreement, he would be brought to Weilun Star.

A place that was once slaughtered and razed to the ground by the Zerg.

Super scary, okay?

The little star was trembling with fear, and all he wanted was to finish the performance quickly and leave. He didn't want to stay in this damn place for even a minute longer.

Beside him, the bodyguard stuffed various instruments into his backpack and consoled him, saying, "It's all about making it real."

The little star muttered glumly, "Why is the AI ​​simulation unreal?"

The bodyguard is actually a soldier who was temporarily assigned to protect the young star.

He shrugged and said with emotion, "Our instructor is very stubborn. If he thinks it needs to be filmed on the spot, then it must be filmed on the spot."

He shook his head and patted the little star on the shoulder: "Okay, stop complaining, it's done anyway, pack up and go back to the spaceship."

As soon as he finished speaking, the bodyguard's personal terminal suddenly beeped.

What's going on?

The bodyguard frowned slightly.

He opened his personal terminal and read the message on it, his eyes gradually widening. Finally, when he put down his personal terminal, the bodyguard turned back to look at his companions in silence, his expression complicated and strange.

The little star asked in surprise: "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just..."

The bodyguard was a little confused, his voice drifting: "It's the message from Instructor Dong, asking us to stay here a little longer and act out the whole scene."

Little Star: “…What?”

The bodyguard laughed bitterly. "They say one of the students figured out our location based on what was seen in the video window. They even dismantled the robot and analyzed our coordinates... Anyway, they're heading this way now."

Little Star: “…Huh?”

What the hell?

"Your robots are of terrible quality, aren't they?" He frowned. "You can just tear them apart like that?"

There are also location coordinates. Can it be located just by saying it is located?

"No?"

The soldier acting as temporary bodyguard also felt aggrieved and explained quietly, "The programs loaded into the robot are all encrypted by the military. Although the confidentiality level is not high, it is difficult enough for students."

"The hardware is more complex, and if things go wrong, it might even force self-destruct..."

Does anyone know how those students managed to bypass the hardware's self-destruct program and forcibly crack the location information?

It's unbelievable.

unless……

The soldier murmured, "It seems that there are some really amazing students in this inter-school league."

…

Team A1056 quickly advanced towards Area X1.

The power boots under his feet sprayed out arc-shaped blue flames, and the brilliant flames broke through the white ash in the sky, leaving a scorch mark on the ground.

The examiners on the spacecraft frowned as they watched this scene.

...Damn, my face hurts.

Instead of standing still or being misled by false information, they targeted the video loopholes, analyzed and located them, and went straight to the source.

That’s so awesome!

Are these really just a few high school students, rather than rigorously trained legion soldiers?

The examiners have discovered that their judgment of Team A1056 has never been correct since the beginning of the competition.

This team is so amazing, it always gives them extraordinary feelings.

"Aren't they warriors?" someone muttered. "How come they know all these different things?"

"Won't it be distracting to learn these?"

"Who knows?"

The other person beside him shook his head and said softly, "Perhaps this is the difference between genius and mediocrity."

When Xu Maoxing heard this, he felt sour in his heart and his expression became very strange.

The other examiners don’t know, so doesn’t he know it?

There are no geniuses in the A1056 team. It's a completely inferior team made up of F-level losers!

Wei Lan asked him to investigate Gu Qiongsheng. Although Xu Maoxing was careless, he also casually checked the personnel composition of this team.

Without exception, all of them are F-level students in Yuancheng High School.

For many years, there has been no progress, and I have become a small and transparent existence.

Now, he is praised as a genius by other examiners?

Xu Maoxing was almost confused to death.

He was fully able to sense the extraordinaryness of these students from the performance of Team A1056, but the more he did so, the more confused he became, and his chest felt stuffy.

What exactly happened to these people?

How could such a drastic change happen?

Just at this moment, the movement of another team on the screen changed.

Someone's eyes lit up, and they raised their voices, "Team A012 is also in Area X1, and they're about to run into Team A1056!"

A012 is the seed team of Yuancheng High School.

Moreover, after observing several previous battles, the examiners were full of praise for the combat effectiveness of Team A012, especially Ling Kaixuan's.

Compared with the A1056 team's unexpected victory along the way, the A012 team took the path of violent crushing.

In terms of combat strength, according to the examiners' evaluation, A012 is currently superior.

Many people are thinking: If these two teams meet on a narrow road and a battle breaks out, A1056 should suffer a lot, right?