Translator: AnubisTL
To put it simply, if Chen Jiang drove this massive truck over the armored vehicle he'd seized from City 18, he'd barely feel a bump.
That's assuming the truck's wheels even made contact with the armored vehicle's roof.
If the wheels missed, the armored vehicle wouldn't even reach the truck's chassis.
"Honestly," Scar Dog said, his eyes burning as he stared at the massive truck, "Brother Jiang, I want to take this thing."
Chen Jiang felt a flicker of interest. He immediately walked to the truck's door, sizing it up, trying to figure out how to climb into the cab. But as his hand touched the vehicle, a notification panel popped up before him:
[Energy depleted. To restart, please insert ten energy blocks.]
[Ten energy blocks will power the vehicle for a full day.]
"..."
Chen Jiang froze, his expression blank. Now he understood why this truck had been abandoned here for so long, and why the human players who had once occupied the ruined mine hadn't tried to claim it.
Ten energy blocks? He didn't have that many right now.
Only six energy blocks remained.
These six blocks had to be reserved for life-saving emergencies.
For now, the vehicle was useless, parked here indefinitely. It was a pity. If he could have scavenged all the spoils from City 18, he wouldn't be short on energy blocks.
But City 18 had already fallen into that sky pit.
Chen Jiang frowned slightly. Though he didn't know exactly what had happened, he figured they could still salvage plenty of loot from City 18's wreckage—as long as they could kill all those damned insects first.
He shook his head, pulled out a few bags of bread and a bottle of mineral water from his pocket, and handed them to Scar Dog. "Have a bite. Time to get some sleep."
"Right away, Brother Jiang."
Despite his stellar performance yesterday, which had secretly impressed players of various races and etched Chen Jiang's name into their minds, he was still stuck eating fast food like bread for dinner.
This was actually an improvement—they'd found some food in the ruin field arena master's office.
Just a few months ago, they'd been so hungry their eyes had turned red. He remembered the first mechanical race member they killed; they'd nearly eaten the flesh off its body out of starvation.
"Looks like we need to find a cook to bring with us," Chen Jiang said thoughtfully.
"I agree," Scar Dog raised his hand, his mouth stuffed full. "If possible, I'd prefer a Sichuan cuisine chef, Brother Jiang. You know I love those dishes that are all peppercorns and chili peppers."
"Alright, finish eating and rest for a bit. We have important business to take care of when we wake up."
He hadn't forgotten that around 2 AM tonight, they needed to participate in the race competition for their race. The rewards were substantial, and they couldn't afford to miss it.
Soon, the two men hastily filled their stomachs, drove the armored vehicle to a spot against a wall, activated the Steel Sword Rotating Autonomous Turret, placed it on the vehicle, and drifted into a light sleep.
With the Steel Sword Rotating Autonomous Turret active, any enemy approaching would be mercilessly crushed.
Once activated, the turret automatically attacked enemies within its range based on the whitelist settings.
As for sleeping at this hour, it certainly disrupted their biological clocks.
But who cared about such things in the wilderness?
After an unknown amount of time...
The two sleeping figures were jolted awake by a voice.
"Human race horn!"
"Human Player Fang Cunshan: Brother Jiang, we've taken care of Human Player Li Xiumei."
"Two lives, both gone. Clean and quick, no chance of escape."
"No need for you to trouble yourself with such small fry, Brother Jiang. You're busy, so I won't bother you any further."
"Dead?"
Scar Dog rubbed the sleep from his eyes, his brow furrowing as he fully awoke. "Did I fall into a deep sleep just now?"
In his three months in the wilderness, he had never slept so deeply. This time, he had vivid dreams, and the thought of facing danger in such a vulnerable state sent a chill down his spine.
"Mm-hmm," Chen Jiang nodded slightly, glancing out the window at the darkening sky. "We've been exhausted these past few days. Falling into a deep sleep is normal. It's fine, nothing happened."
Chen Jiang hadn't fallen into a deep sleep. Even with the Steel Sword Autonomous Turret, he couldn't bring himself to lower his guard completely.
In the wilderness, death lurked around every corner, waiting for the slightest lapse in vigilance.
Just like earlier today, if he had entered City 18, the sky pit would have suddenly appeared, and he would have fallen into it along with the city. That would have been far from ideal.
At that moment—
He glanced at the futuristic-looking wristwatch on his wrist.
The display showed nearly 2:00 AM.
He had taken it from the first mechanical race member he killed. It was reliable and kept accurate time.
He then pulled out the participation token from his pocket, checked the time again, and figured it was about time to begin.
The next second—
A notification suddenly sounded in his ear.
[Global Announcement.]
[Race-Limited Time Competition: Two-Player Instance Activated!]
[After the event begins, all players of each race possessing a participation token may participate.]
[Each race is limited to two participants.]
[Participants will be separately entered into a vast wilderness teeming with mutated beasts.]
[Competition time: five minutes.]
[The top ten players with the highest kill counts will receive varying degrees of rewards.]
[The first-place player with the highest kill count will secure victory for their race, earning additional rewards for their entire race.]
[Non-participating players can view the real-time kill rankings but cannot observe the live combat footage.]
[Non-participating players of a race can purchase buffs for their race's participating players.]
["Consuming 10 merit points grants a buff to allied players, causing ten mutated beasts within their vicinity to become crippled."]
["Consuming 10 merit points grants a debuff to enemy players, increasing the number of mutated beasts around them by ten."]
["Participating Players:"]
["Human Race: Chen Jiang, Scar Dog"]
["Mechanical Race: Yan Pomen, Gou Ba"]
["Insect Race: ..."]
A white light flashed from the token in Chen Jiang's hand.
When he regained his senses, he found himself in a vast, unobstructed wilderness.
The surrounding landscape was teeming with mutated beasts, roughly a hundred meters away, numbering in the tens of thousands at a glance.
However, these creatures seemed to be restrained by an invisible barrier, unable to charge forward, only snarling and roaring from a distance.
A notification panel appeared before him:
["Preparation Countdown: 00:00:59"]
"Well, this is something," Scar Dog muttered, surveying the scene. "This event feels way harder than I expected. If anyone else were thrown into this, just surviving would be a miracle, let alone snagging the top ranking."
Just then, a barrage of notifications flooded their ears.
[Ding! A human player has spent 10 merit points to grant you a buff. Ten of the mutated beasts you encounter will be crippled.]
[Ding! A human player has spent 50 merit points to grant you a buff. Fifty of the mutated beasts you encounter will be crippled.]
[Ding!]
Then, before Scar Dog's bewildered eyes, the mutated beasts nearby began collapsing visibly, limbs suddenly missing or mangled. Their speed continued to increase rapidly as more and more beasts fell to the ground, crippled.
"Hmm, the difficulty seems to have dropped sharply."
However, the very next moment—
[Ding! A mechanical race player has spent 50 merit points to grant you a debuff. You will encounter fifty additional mutated beasts.]
[Ding! An elf race player has spent 100 merit points to grant you a debuff. You will encounter one hundred additional mutated beasts.]
[Ding!]
"Heh."
A flicker of displeasure flashed in Scar Dog's eyes. "The difficulty just shot right back up."
"Elves, huh? You little bastards, not bad at all."
"Just wait. Next time I see you, I'll wipe out your entire race."
(End of the Chapter)
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