Chapter 29

Chapter 29

"The exam has concluded; now commencing the settlement for this testing ground." The emotionless electronic voice echoed in the empty room.

Louis's lips quivered. "You, you..."

The tall, slender man tilted his head slightly, his longer bangs framing a pair of smiling eyes beneath. His face was youthful and delicate, embodying the elegance of an Easterner.

"Is there something you need?"

No, this wasn't just a 'man'; he exuded the innocence of a fresh spring bud and the vitality of youth. His gentle demeanor posed no threat to anyone; he could easily be mistaken for a student ready to enter school with his backpack.

A person who had just taken a life...

Cold sweat trickled down Louis's face as he almost reached for a cigarette to calm himself. "Nothing."

The other top contenders finally snapped out of their shock, retreating hastily to put distance between themselves and Ji Xinghai, who held a weapon. This young man, with his good looks and seemingly innocent appearance, was a formidable force to be reckoned with.

'Theoretically, students aren't supposed to have any weapons here. Is that knife a manifestation of his special talent?'

'What kind of blade is this? It resembles a D-country katana but is longer. Was that a sword-drawing technique? Could he be from D-country?'

The students harbored various thoughts, none daring to speak aloud.

"..."

Minister and others had anticipated numerous scenarios for Ji Xinghai's encounter with Zhang Ziqing, but they never expected it to unfold like this — they did indeed meet, but within the first 0.01 seconds, Ji Xinghai swiftly decapitated his opponent with precision and without hesitation.

He pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and a faint smile appeared on his stern face through the white smoke.

The Federation must be furious, right?

"What happened? What's going on? Why did Brother Hai suddenly kill someone? Who did he kill?"

"It was Zhang Ziqing, the sixth-place contender."

"Can you still kill after the game ends? That shouldn't be allowed by the rules, right?"

"There's still one minute left, sixty seconds. When Brother Hai, as the first among the top ten, entered the independent space, it was exactly at 5:59 on the testing ground's clock. I saw it clearly. I think he took that into consideration when he made his move."

"That doesn't make sense. Does Brother Hai know Zhang Ziqing? Did he know about his betrayal?"

"They probably don't know each other, right?"

"He does know him. You forgot that Zhang Ziqing came looking for him to hunt him down. But there was a humanoid anomaly present at the time, so he temporarily left."

"No way. Just that instant? I remember they were about fifty meters apart, with many trees in between. Holy shit, does Brother Hai have photographic memory or something?"

"Waaaaaah, he's amazing. Really, in that fleeting moment of their encounter, he memorized a copy of the situation."

"Zhang Ziqing, oh Zhang Ziqing, why did you provoke him? Now look, the high-scoring sixth-place contender, ruined by his own doing, huh?"

"Showing no mercy to those who bear ill will, as expected of you, Ji Sang! Your swordsmanship is too cool!"

"What country are you people from?! Remember the deceived student from our country? Ji is a big fraud!"

"Why deny your weakness? What's wrong with following the strong?"

"I'm more concerned about that suddenly appearing saber. So the main book and the supplementary book are indeed different. We can summon high-level experience tickets, but it seems Brother Hai can directly summon the demon blade itself."

"A demon blade is useless to us. An unmanageable weapon might as well be a folding chair. But for Brother Hai, who may encounter danger at any moment in the副本, a demon blade is more practical. It's a case of making use of what's available, isn't it?"

Throughout this period, JiuZhou's publicity department kept a close watch, fearing someone might stir up trouble. Yet, unexpectedly, Ji Xinghai's live stream remained harmonious.

"It's true. If it were any other normal student, they might be criticized for being vengeful or malicious. However, Ji Xinghai...is he even normal?" Looking at that steady mental value of 59, how much could one demand from someone who was essentially unhinged?

In the international conference room, there was a hushed silence as everyone, either openly or covertly, observed the Federation representative, whose face was flushed red, on the verge of erupting like a volcano. They also glanced at the JiuZhou representative, who remained as calm as a mountain amidst a storm.

With two students dead, the first one's early demise aside, the other had just secured the high score of sixth place, only to be cut down in the next second. It was more thrilling than a roller coaster ride.

Would these two organizations clash in the international conference room?

The national representatives were somewhat worried, somewhat wary, and not without a hint of schadenfreude.

However, those present were all elite individuals, not easily swayed by emotions. Thus, despite clenching his fists tightly, the Federation representative refrained from engaging in physical conflict with the JiuZhou representative.

Of course, the absence of physical conflict didn't preclude verbal sparring.

"Is this JiuZhou's stance? To harm other students at the last moment due to personal grudges?"

"When friends come, we offer them wine; when enemies come, we greet them with rifles. That's JiuZhou's stance. Instead of being so irritable, the Federation representative should go back and ask his own students why they wanted to hunt others without any conflict of interest. If you can do it, why can't we? There's no such thing as one-sided logic in this world."

The JiuZhou representative was unbending. Attitude? This was his attitude, and not bursting out laughing was already a display of civility.

In the context of global cooperation, it was inappropriate to laugh at the death of a foreign student. However, Zhang Ziqing was a particularly unique student. He was a symbol of the Federation's betrayal of JiuZhou, nearly causing immense disaster for the JiuZhou people. Therefore, now that he was eliminated, the people of JiuZhou couldn't muster any sympathy.

If there was any sympathy, it was for the civilians outside the Federation's Eden. They were the ultimate victims of this political conspiracy.

Regardless of the Federation representative's rage, the most important matter at hand was the final settlement of the first exam.

Beyond the highly anticipated replica tokens and exemptions from abnormal natural disasters, the top ten students could also receive high-score packages and use their points, converted from scores, to purchase items from the store.

The former was needed by the countries, while the latter was necessary for the students themselves. Only the former was broadcasted publicly, while the latter involved only the students themselves.

The top ten packages mostly contained resources required by the countries. Among them, purification types couldn't be shared, but certain seeds, young livestock, and technologies could be shared and subjected to decryption and research.

They eagerly anticipated the appearance of items their countries needed in this settlement. Even if not obtained by their own country's students, they could acquire some through resource exchanges.

At this moment, Ji Xinghai, the undisputed first-place winner of this exam, had already received his exemption from abnormal natural disasters, the champion package, and a coveted 'replica token'.

The replica token was a special 3D badge. Beneath it was a scene of green mountains and clear waters, birds singing and flowers fragrant. There were planes circling in the sky, and floating in mid-air were the words "JiuZhou": Fish in a Dried-up Pond. Well, this was customized according to the nationality of the winner. Apart from the replica token, another coveted item was the 'Exceptional Catastrophe Exemption', which could be owned by all full-score participants. Of course, the full score here wasn't a hundred points, but a full score on top of a full score, that is, two hundred points. Unfortunately, the scores this time were too far apart, only Ji Xinghai obtained the 'Exceptional Catastrophe Exemption'. The other students could only smile bitterly and offer their blessings. There was still one champion package left. He reached out and directly pulled off the bow on the package floating in mid-air, and golden light radiated everywhere. "You have received an Oceanic Ecosystem Sphere: It can accelerate the recovery of oceanic ecosystems. It has been deployed in the territorial waters of the student's country. "You have received a random high-level purification quota: A heavily polluted area in the student's country has been randomly selected and directly purified to a lightly polluted state. It has been used. "You have received 100,000 mature Water Purifying Trees: They need to be planted in a watery environment. A mature tree can convert one ton of polluted water into drinkable mineral water in a day. They have been randomly deployed in the student's country." "..." Ji Xinghai fell silent. The rewards had indeed been given, but they had all been used up already. What he saw was just a mass of air, nothing at all. It was not even as good as the replica token, which could at least be considered a keepsake. That feeling was like having just received New Year's money, only for his parents to take it and deposit it in a bank card, saying they would save it for him to use later. Unhappy. Fortunately, this tragedy of handing over New Year's money only applied to the first half; the second half was when the students got to empty their shopping lists themselves. After all the student packages were opened, the electronic voice changed, saying they were entering the Points Mall, and they all appeared in a gray-black space. There were many chairs and benches inside, with tea and snacks on the tables, and their treatment instantly rose to a higher level. Ji Xinghai took up a small square table by himself, the glowing virtual menu flickering incessantly in his hand, from props usable in the exam to permanent skills, everything was available. At the top of the menu was his current points total, 636. Behind it was small print: Accumulative use allowed. Hmm? Even if the mercenaries who died under the poison gas and those he had induced to kill each other were counted as his achievements, it wouldn't reach this level, right? He clicked on the number to look closely, and sure enough, in addition to the survival baseline of 60 points, there were 368 points for killing enemies, and the rest were various additional points he didn't even know about. The bulk of it was for wiping out the enemy's main base and preventing the biological agent bombing, which directly gave him 120 additional points. The other students also looked at the menu immediately, their eyes wide with surprise. They knew that the mall in the first exam had many fine items, but they didn't expect to find such props here? Game Backpack: A three-cubic-meter weightless independent space, worth 200 points. Prop Card: Converts an acquired item into a retainable prop, worth 180 points. Copy Card: Copies a single-use prop you own, worth 180 points. These high-quality items that could only be found by chance later on...the students' hearts pounded, and then they saw their points - not to mention two hundred, they didn't even have one hundred and eighty. In the next second, the game backpack turned gray, unable to be purchased. Prop Card, grayed out. Copy Card, grayed out. Who?! Did they think they were great because they had points?! The game backpack must have been bought by the first place, but who were the other students? Everyone was envious and resentful, but they couldn't show it, pretending to be calm, their eyes quickly scanning down, looking for props and skills that they could afford and were relatively practical. Having points was truly impressive. Seeing something he liked, Ji Xinghai didn't need to think much about it. His fingertips clicked wildly, snatching up the game backpack, prop card, and copy card together, using up 560 points. Then he looked at the others. Surprise Chocolate (9 pieces): Best consumed when tired, worth 45 points. Hemostatic Bandage (3 rolls): Quickly stops bleeding and accelerates wound healing, worth 30 points. With 636 points, he was left with only one after spending them all, perfect. It seemed that there was a limit to how long they could stay in this room, so even though they had chosen their items, they did not leave. Ji Xinghai poured himself a cup of tea, the faintly sweet aroma wafting around his nose, it was actually Yunnan black tea. With survival themes, rankings, and rewards. How interesting... In fact, since entering that blank room, Ji Xinghai had discovered that the wounds on his arms and thighs were completely healed, as if they had never existed. But his overall condition was that of someone who had absorbed the energy of those little monsters. So would the existence behind the scenes be responsible for treating the students after the game ended? To what extent? Could they return to this world intact as long as they had a breath left, even if they were missing limbs? The points converted into points could be accumulated, meaning that this kind of game wasn't a one-time thing, and there would be more in the future. And the variety of products in the 'menu' in his hand seemed to give a glimpse of the types of small worlds they would experience in the future. Food shortages, temperatures beyond human tolerance, easy injuries, facing non-scientific worldviews... Perhaps considering that the gap between students couldn't be too large, most of the items offered were auxiliary or consumable. He didn't yet know if the things he bought could all be brought to the next game, or if there was a limit to how many he could bring. He guessed that there was a limit, and it wouldn't exceed three. Otherwise, the strong would become stronger, and the weak would become weaker, what would be the point of watching? "I saw it." A man sat across from Ji Xinghai, with honey-colored skin and brown eyes, combining the advantages of both Eastern and Western facial features - a young man full of sunny charm. "The person you killed was a highly regarded official student of JiuZhou this time, Zhang Ziqing."

JiuZhou cadet?

Ji Xinghai blinked, but it didn't stir much emotion in him. So what if they were JiuZhou cadets? He would kill when he deemed necessary, regardless of the day. Even if the JiuZhou government was here, his stance would remain unchanged.

"Offending a major power like JiuZhou means you need friends," the young man said with a profound undertone.

"I don't need any."

Ji Xinghai cut off all his scheming with one sentence, then lazily added, "It's you who needs them."

In this game, there could only be one big winner, while everyone else was left to sip the broth. His results spoke for themselves; in this type of game, Ji Xinghai had the ability to win alone and didn't require any assistance.

"If you want to collaborate with me, there's no need to beat around the bush with your words. Show me what you have that I want."

Everyone else was listening intently, so these words from Ji Xinghai were also directed at them.

Frankly speaking, based on the outcome of the first game, none of those present had the qualifications to stand on equal footing with him and discuss cooperation under terms of mutual benefit.

Looking at the man's suddenly silent face, he smiled. "When you have the capital, come find me."