Chapter 19: First Preliminary Match (Part 9)
As Rabbit's commentator expected, Mingyu and Mu Baixing did not start their return journey to the central area until all the resources in the Z1 area had been plundered.
There were still five hours left before the end of the game. The reserve fuel in the starship was almost exhausted, and one-third of the loading room was filled with resource blocks.
"Is that enough?" Zimao was in charge of counting the resource blocks and then reporting the results to everyone in the cab. Unlike the Rabbit anchor, the contestants couldn't see the resource rankings of all teams, so he was a little unsure, his tone hesitant, "I wonder how much resources the other teams have received..."
Mingyu looked at the star map in front of him.
"It should be enough," he said. "Although there are abundant resources in the central area, there are also many teams competing for it."
"Z1 region's total resources account for 10% of the total allocated resources. Teams vary in strength. Based on past data, the top 30 teams can occupy nearly 40% of the resources. With a 50% elimination rate, nearly 6,000 teams will advance to the second round. So, 5% of the resources for us is more than enough."
"Looks like there's a lot of fighting going on over there," Red Hair checked the monitor. It showed the energy waves that had spread outward from the distant star region a few minutes earlier due to the fighting. Mingyu looked out the window. The light had also reached their location. The lingering faint glow spread across the universe like a fluttering curtain.
Red Hair: "Wow, that's amazing. How many people will be eliminated..."
"Let's fight for the large resource station that suddenly appeared in the center of the central star field an hour ago," Mingyu said. "It drew everyone in for a fight at the beginning, and towards the end, it attracted many teams to fight for it again..."
Teams with insufficient resources will regard the newly emerged resource stations as a lifeline, but the teams with the most resources will not give them up.
For others, acquiring resources is for advancement, but for the top teams, the amount of resources determines their reputation.
Maybe it's more than just fame.
Ming Yu paused, looked at Mu Baixing, and speculated, "Do you think the rankings in the first round will affect the second round? The simplest example is the number of initial resources carried on the survival map..."
This isn't a new tactic. It's just that before the rules are announced, each team has to decide for themselves whether or not to take the risk.
"Possibly." Mu Baixing looked at Mingyu and asked calmly, "Want to go?"
Mingyu: “…”
It looked like he could drive his starship into the chaotic fire just by saying something.
Mingyu hesitated for a moment, then shook his head: "Let's just return to the central area and dock."
Their starships had only undergone the most basic transformation, and the teams that were still fighting for resources after the melee were already "screened" and powerful enemies. Their starships had no advantage in either defense or attack.
What's more, Mu Baixing's mental strength has just recovered, and their starship's observer... communicates with the pilot entirely by shouting, which is somewhat primitive.
Just get into a melee like this and see if you can grab the resources first. The probability of being hit and crashing is too high.
Mu Baixing has closed the regulating valve and put on the virtual helmet again.
"Okay," he said, "Go straight into port."
During the game, their understanding of any team depends solely on the observer's mental judgment and the sensors on their own starships. Unless a team initiates communication with them, they will not know the opponent's team name or crew information, let alone the overall situation of the game.
At this moment, the situation in the melee was far more intense than Mingyu had expected.
The large black battleship that had caused Mingyu and his team a lot of trouble at the beginning was fighting in the light ball.
This black warship, boasting maximum defense and attack power, completely abandoned the idea of carrying resource blocks. It had originally been roaming around densely populated areas, intercepting teams seeking resources. A few hours before the end of the match, it began its return to the central area, ambushing at top speed near the last resource station to be deployed.
It waits for the exploratory starships to gather here, like a patient hunter, waiting for enough prey to enter its hunting range before finally closing the net!
"This is a tactic that hurts the enemy by a thousand and hurts yourself by eight hundred—! But this massive battleship's defensive capabilities are simply astonishing! Oh my god, I remember its stats weren't this extreme when the match just started. Otherwise, it would have attracted the attention of all the teams and would have been destroyed long ago... It must have just entered the security station to replace its parts! It's showing its true fangs!"
"'Slayer', this Slayer team from the Southeast Star Region! The number of eliminated teams is still increasing... It's almost 50%! 50%——!!!"
Rabbit shouted, his voice already hoarse, "This is a first in the history of the Star Navigation Competition! The starship crash elimination rate in the first round of the resource competition reached 50%—"
A few miles away, the silver-gray exploration starship that Mingyu was riding on floated lightly through the colorful curtains in the universe from the flickering light.
They returned directly to the port from the Z1 star field, bypassing the star field where fierce fighting was taking place.
Mingyu was certain that his elder brother Mingyan's team must have been involved in the melee.
He held his chin, somewhat curious about Ming Yan's harvest.
His eldest brother, Mingyan, was a child of destiny, considered a leader among the next generation of navigators and a rising star in the human star system. His co-pilot was his childhood sweetheart, Feren, and they were the only awakened ship in the Central Star System to reach a 2S mental strength level in the past fifty years.
Mingyu puffed out his cheeks and looked at Mu Baixing.
Their starship had already glided into the starport before the race time expired. It lowered into the docking area, its buckles dropping, securing it. Everyone in the cockpit unfastened their seats, stretched, and awaited the final outcome while at anchor.
"Brother Mu." Mingyu, with a competitive spirit that came from nowhere, moved closer to Mu Baixing and asked, "What's the level of your mental strength? Do you have any special properties?"
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