"Didn't expect that in the end, I would still end up serving as someone else's stepping stone..."
That was the thin man's final thought before losing consciousness.
Indeed, once he chose to hunt other applicants, he should have been prepared to become prey himself someday.
"This is the most rewarding mantis I've caught so far."
Luke smiled, calling the fallen man a mantis.
The thin man was the mantis catching the cicada, and naturally, Luke was the oriole behind them.
Up to now, this was the fourth mantis he had caught.
"If I'm not mistaken, there should be about ten exit points in total."
"I've already caught four mantises, that's more than enough."
Luke counted the supplies in front of him while calculating.
During these twenty-four hours, he hadn't gone out to collect supplies himself.
Instead, he waited patiently, waiting for the mantises to catch enough cicadas.
Then, near the deadline, he played the role of the oriole swooping in for the harvest.
"This world works like that, small fish eat shrimp, big fish eat small fish."
"Don't you think so, examiner Knov?"
After storing everything, Luke smiled at Knov, who had quietly appeared behind him.
Knov: "..."
He simply watched the scene calmly, his gaze also falling on the badge number Luke had picked out from the loot, badges stained with traces of blood.
No need to ask, those were from the applicants hunted by the thin man.
And as for what happened to those applicants after being hunted… the bloodstains made it clear enough.
"When pigs and sheep are raised fat and strong, they naturally become the farmer's next meal."
Knov remarked flatly.
"Evildoer will be punished by another evildoer."
It was all darkness devouring darkness; Knov had no intention of commenting further about the thin man.
After all, this was the applicants' own battle.
As an examiner, he would not intervene.
The only reason he appeared here was that this particular exit point was under his supervision.
And upon seeing such a peculiar applicant like Luke show up, he couldn't resist coming over to take a look.
Indeed, Luke had left a strong impression on Knov from the start of the exam.
Back then, Luke had said he planned to lie in wait at the exit.
At the time, Knov thought Luke meant to ambush careless applicants.
But who would've thought Luke's real targets were those ambushers themselves?
He hunted the applicants who hunted other applicants.
Luke's thinking and strategy were clearly a level above the rest.
They were on the third floor while Luke was on the fifth.
"I'll be looking forward to your performance in the second round."
Knov said after giving Luke a deep look, then he turned to leave.
"Yeah, I'm looking forward to it too."
Luke smiled as he watched him go.
"Besides, I haven't even used any of my inventions in this round yet..."
This first phase, operation Delta... Ah, no, the supply-collection test hadn't been difficult for Luke at all.
He simply found an exit point and took the supplies from the mantises lying in ambush there.
Without much effort, he had already found four mantises.
The supplies they had gathered combined amounted to…
"About twenty million in total."
Four people, each having taken down four or five other applicants.
That was no small number.
After all, among the hundreds of participants, only a few could fight their way out and gather over a million's worth of supplies.
Those who made it to the exit point were one in dozens, rare exceptions.
"That should be enough."
After collecting materials from four mantises in a row and seeing that time was almost up, Luke didn't bother catching any more.
He leisurely walked toward the designated exit point.
When he arrived at the nearest one, there were only a handful of people waiting there.
They all looked tough and dangerous, with fierce, intimidating auras.
These were clearly the same kind of people that the thin man from before hadn't dared to mess with, the strong ones he had let go.
There were about ten exit points for the first phase of the Hunter Exam.
Luke counted the people who had already arrived.
If nothing unexpected happened, if they weren't ambushed on the way…
"Then each exit point should have about 15 people."
"In that case, roughly 150 people will pass the first round."
Out of just over 400 participants, more than half would be eliminated in the first round alone.
Only the hunter exam could have such a brutal elimination rate.
But with all those mantises around and Luke acting as the oriole behind, the number of survivors would shrink even further.
Finally, when the 24-hour deadline came to an end…
"Those of you who passed the first round, please follow me."
A staff member in a neat suit and black sunglasses appeared.
"I'll be taking you to the venue for the next round."
"But before that, please hand over the resources you've gathered in this round for verification."
"The value of your resources will determine the advantage you hold in the second round."
As soon as he finished speaking, some applicants stepped forward to submit their supplies.
The staff member pulled out a calculator and began tallying the prices and quantities.
"Applicant No. 37, total resources: 1.27 million. Passed."
"Applicant No. 257, total resources: 2.13 million. Passed."
One by one, the applicants stepped up and handed over their collected goods.
As they listened to the totals being read aloud, their expressions changed; those whose totals were higher than others' smiled with satisfaction, while those who were clearly lower looked gloomy.
A mix of emotions filled the crowd.
Then, when it was Luke's turn, he was the last one to step forward.
Clatter!
He raised his hand and dumped out a huge pile of supplies that covered the ground.
"Huh?!"
Not only did the staff member freeze, but everyone else at the exit point turned to stare.
"These things..."
The other applicants' eyes twitched while staring at Luke with wariness and fear.
It was obvious that with this much loot, applicant No. 404 hadn't gathered it all by himself.
He must have taken it from other participants!
If he had hunted that many applicants… then this man's strength was far from ordinary, and he's incredibly dangerous!
While the others were quietly intimidated, the staff member looked at the pile of materials in silence, though his hands didn't stop moving.
His calculator clicked rapidly, much faster than it had for anyone else before.
The speed of his calculations made the nearby applicants' faces grow darker and darker.
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