Inside the competition venue.
Hapos and his six companions discovered the first batch of mutated creatures: countless white silkworms as thick as an arm hanging in a mulberry grove, along with many silkworm pupae that had already spun cocoons.
The judging panel immediately discussed its approximate value.
Grade C mutated silkworms are abundant, with each one costing around 10,000 points.
Will the Deep team choose to contain them? C-rank is easy to get; if they get 100, they'll have 1 million points.
Harpos shook his head at the crowd and chose a different direction to continue searching for suitable mutated creatures.
Grade C is worthless and adds weight, so it's not worth it. Their goal is Grade A, and if they can't get Grade A, Grade B will do.
The most important thing is to conserve strength and eliminate other teams before the end of the competition.
Even if they don't bring back any prey, they will still be number one as long as everyone else is dead.
It wasn't just Hapos who thought this way; other teams felt the same way.
From the very beginning, the prey in this competition was not mutated creatures, but humans.
However, given Ye Wu's special abilities and the high probability of him successfully returning to the destination, it is still necessary to contain some mutated creatures.
Viewers watching the live stream, unaware of the intricacies, watched as 16 teams spent most of the day without capturing a single mutated creature, and assumed these people were all useless.
"Who are these people they've hired? Do these big families have so much money they don't know what to do with it?"
“I can kill one or two when I go there, but they don’t kill a single one. Are they planning to fatten them up for the New Year and eat them?”
"Give me my money back! This is garbage competition."
"This is a live stream specifically set up by the five major families to make money and fill the gap left by their tribute payments!"
The mention of offerings further fueled public anger, and most people only recently learned about it.
"We've been dealing with radiation for so many years with no progress, so why don't you go find a new planet? You're just living off our hard-earned money and doing nothing!"
"That's right, let's work hard to research weapons and spaceships. If we take down that so-called suzerain planet, we'll have a place to live, and we won't have to live such a miserable life anymore."
"In the end, it's because the five major families are incompetent. Otherwise, we would have moved to other planets long ago. Maybe the higher-ups have already taken our money and left behind a group of people to continue exploiting us commoners."
...
The number of views on posts criticizing the five major families skyrocketed, since most people had bet on them, and with this performance, wouldn't their money just go down the drain?
Of course, there was also confusion and panic about the future.
Previously, radiation was the only enemy, but now there is an enemy in the universe, which is many times more powerful than our own planet. People are doubting whether they can live to old age.
A very small number of people guessed the reason why the 16 teams did not take action, but their guesses were buried in a sea of curses online.
The first day passed unusually peacefully. The mutated creatures killed by the 16 teams were all of very low level and were only good for filling their stomachs.
Without sleeping bags, they could only sit together and rest at night.
The next morning, a mechanical voice sounded from all the sensors.
Two airdrop crates will land at 8:00 AM.
It also has a location tracking feature.
The news was announced live, immediately piquing the interest of viewers who had lost their enthusiasm after a boring day.
The life-or-death competition is finally about to end.
The six people on Losi's side stopped at the same time. The special sensors could locate them in real time. They were a bit far from the airdrop location, and it would take them 3 hours to get there even if they ran at full speed.
It's only a little past five o'clock now. By the time we get there, the items might have already been taken by the nearest group.
Running for three hours is extremely physically demanding, and even if the items are still there, it's questionable whether you'll have the strength to fight other teams.
But if we don't go, what if there are only two empty boxes in three days?
How will they compete against the other teams the day after tomorrow?
Now, Seven, who has no metal, and Losi, who only has a pistol, are too weak in combat.
Ye Wuneng is vulnerable to being killed in close combat without a weapon. Bob is tough and can fight, but he is still just a mortal and would have a hard time defeating others without a weapon.
The only ones unaffected were Habsburg and Ben.
All five people looked at Hapos; he was the captain.
After a long silence, Hapos firmly raised his head and said, "Go!"
He didn't dare gamble on whether there would be more airdrops. Even if he couldn't capture both airdrops, he at least had to get one weapon back for his four teammates who were currently unarmed.
No one objected; everyone understood the importance of this airdrop.
However, there is still a problem: water.
Before the competition, everyone tried to eat as much as possible. Last night, we ate a little bit of the mutated creature's meat, but we didn't drink any water.
As they continued their journey, the group searched for clean water sources with low radiation levels.
Meanwhile, 10 of the other 15 teams were heading towards the two airdrops.
It was already 8:30, and the Deep team still hadn't arrived. They were unlucky; there were just too many high-radiation areas on the road, and they had to take detours again and again. There were still 10 kilometers to go.
Unfortunately, they could only search for the area with the lowest radiation levels nearby to avoid the impending increase in radiation.
The six people split up and found a small area with only yellow 6s.
The team's luck was such that they might not have caught the airdrop, but they were also lucky enough to find the yellow 6 area.
Yesterday, I spent the whole day looking for a safe place and only found one at Yellow 7. When the radiation level rose, it only reached Yellow 9, and I got through the day safely.
They quickly set up a makeshift shelter made of wood and leaves, and now they could only pray that no one had made it to the nearest airdrop yet.
But things didn't go as planned, half an hour ago.
Both airdrops were captured by teams from two smaller factions, but their joy was short-lived as several slower-arriving teams began fighting.
In just ten minutes, one of the teams was wiped out.
The combination of blood and violence is exhilarating for those who have long been oppressed at the bottom of society.
The unfortunate representative behind that team fainted on the spot, and the cameraman even gave him a close-up, letting everyone see his disheveled appearance.
If they come in last place, they will have to pay the most source crystals, and they will have to sell off all of their assets to make up for it. If they are at the bottom of the third safe zone in the finals, they will have no chance to turn things around.
Several teammates from other teams also died. Some failed to get a weapon and ran away when they realized they couldn't win, while others took the opportunity to grab a weapon and escape.
Some were happy while others were sad. Four teams, including the Deep team, had traveled for half a day but hadn't even seen an empty projection.
None of the five major families managed to obtain any weapons.
The comments section was flooded with messages saying that the five major families were trash.
During the live stream, some viewers, seeing their favorite team get the weapon, started popping champagne and showing off.
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