Chapter 55

Chapter 55

As the temperature soared, most of the trainees gave up on searching for supply boxes; they offered too little in return. They preferred to find a shady spot to rest and avoid heatstroke and conserve their fuel.

There were very few cars still on the road, one of which was Ji Xinghai's.

His car, having undergone secondary evolution, ignored the scorching ground that could melt rubber. The cold drinks in the vehicle’s fridge kept him refreshed.

Ji Xinghai pulled out a lemon from his "Wonderful Fruit Basket" and enjoyed an ice-cold lemon cola. With each sip, the bubbles in the bottle, dripping with condensation, cooled his body and calmed his mind.

The audience followed, swallowing their saliva.

In this era, even cheap cola, once considered junk, had become expensive and scarce. And he added even more expensive fruit slices to it.

In this simulation, everyone was fighting for survival, but he seemed to be on vacation.

However, Ji Xinghai wasn't actually on vacation. It was nearing noon, the perfect time to search for their lair.

Traditionally, vampires appeared only at night. But the group of young vampires encountered by the trainee appeared after sunset, which was why the trainee hadn’t initially suspected they were vampires.

Ji Xinghai believed these were non-traditional vampires, perhaps inspired by movies or television shows.

Vampires were global celebrity monsters, with new films, novels, and games about them being released every year, each with unique creative twists by their creators.

But even the wildest adaptations maintained the basic premise that vampires feared or disliked sunlight; they wouldn’t wander around in broad daylight but would venture out to hunt only after sunset.

"Fear of sunlight" was the last key to survival humans left themselves when creating these monsters, the foundation upon which all protagonists in movies and TV shows could make their final stand.

Now, it became the key for the trainees to earn points.

On his way to find the vampires, he saw several white supply boxes. Stopping and opening them required too much effort and fuel, and he could only expect to find perishable food inside, so he decided not to bother.

In the end, Ji Xinghai only picked up a blue supply box, which contained three ordinary items: a 30-gallon gas card, a 500 ml bottle of mineral water, and a rare medical item—a bottle of iodine solution.

It was nothing compared to the previous blue supply box.

Was the exam trying to punish him for insisting on causing trouble for the monsters?

Ji Xinghai didn’t care much. When he passed by a gas station, he exchanged all his gas cards for fuel cans and chatted with the attendant.

But the attendant, who seemed eager to find a place to smoke and couldn’t find a lighter, wasn’t interested in talking. He was agitated.

"Oh, damn."

Ji Xinghai, sensing the unpleasant smell, loaded his trunk with gasoline and left the gas station.

Why did simulations always focus on such unnecessary details that everyone knew? It was a waste of resources.

Soon, he arrived at the first location where the trainee encountered the vampires.

On the map, it was a suburb outside the town, near a small forest, with a metal signpost indicating the distance to the town.

Ji Xinghai got out of the car and looked around. All traces had been erased.

He then visited the locations where the trainee was chased and where he finally escaped. As before, there were no signs left.

It looked like an ordinary country road, with no indication that a group of vampires lived nearby.

He marked these three locations on the map and then stretched his thumb and index finger, drawing three circles centered around each point.

"What is he doing?"

"Determining the vampires' territory. These creatures that can't bear light and act in groups must have a secret lair, and it won’t be too far away." Of course, considering the vampires’ terrifying speed, it wouldn’t be too close either.

Ji Xinghai held the map and carefully examined what was within the circled areas.

A small town with a community school and hospital.

Eliminate it. If they were lone wolves, the town would be suitable, but this was a group that likely lived together, nocturnal beings. Living among their prey would eventually lead to problems.

A small forest with a solitary lumberjack’s cabin. It also wasn’t suitable for a group. From the young vampires’ attire and behavior, it was clear that their cover identities couldn’t be lumberjacks.

That left the suburban villa in semi-seclusion, near the forest and a small lake, neither too close nor too far from the town (the food respawn point).

Having determined the location, Ji Xinghai didn’t immediately act. He checked his watch; it was almost noon, time to replenish his energy and strength. From the trainee’s experience, it was clear that although the vampires didn’t have special abilities, their physical prowess far exceeded that of ordinary humans. They had incredible speed, strength, and reflexes. He wasn’t fighting a group of powerless humans but a pack of experienced "superhumans."

Ji Xinghai chose to go during midday to weaken the dark supernatural beings’ inherent advantages. But that didn’t mean the vampires would be easy to deal with during the day, especially in a one-against-many situation.

Although the energy he had consumed earlier slightly repaired his frail body, he was still human. Rushing in would be like delivering himself to the vampires.

He ate bread, drank water, adjusted his seat, and closed his eyes to rest. He was more composed than the audience watching on their screens.

Around half past twelve, Ji Xinghai felt his energy had recovered well. He cleaned his face and hands with a wet wipe, drank some water, and then set off for the villa he had identified.

The villa wasn’t far, and he reached it in less than ten minutes by taking a shortcut. As he turned the corner, he could see the dark red building surrounded by trees in the distance.

It was a classic Federation wooden villa, unremarkable on the outside. But before he entered the villa grounds, a faint scent of blood wafted through the air filter.

It was the smell of human blood. If asked how it differed from other animals, Ji Xinghai couldn’t say, but he was sure it was human blood.

This was a dangerous signal.

Why do humans fear the corpses of their own kind? Because it’s a signal telling them something here can kill humans, and they need to be cautious. Similarly, this faint, distinctively human scent of blood was issuing a death warning.

But the car didn’t stop or slow down; instead, it headed straight for the villa.

Although the villa was surrounded by tall trees, it was midday, and the sunlight shone directly down, so the villa lacked its usual eerie atmosphere and looked bright and open.

The vehicle drove straight through the gate and slowly stopped at the closed entrance.

"Here we are!" The viewers who had been watching the livestream for hours suddenly tensed up, all drowsiness vanishing.

Would Ji Xinghai choose to infiltrate at this time? If the vampires were in their coffins, he could simply set them ablaze like in some movie scenes.

But what if some vampires hadn't gone to bed yet? Just as there were humans who stayed awake on their phones when they should be sleeping, why couldn't there be vampires who preferred to stay up during the day? If the vampires weren't asleep, Ji Xinghai's entry would alert them.

"I think Brother Hai will sneak in quietly, just like when he infiltrated the mercenary stronghold."

"That time, there was a guide lured by beauty. The situation is different now. Besides, I'm worried about surveillance inside. It's possible that some vampires have already spotted Brother Hai."

"Why not just barge in! I checked the videos; there are only sixteen vampires in that team, and the villa isn't large. Brother Hai doesn't have many enemies to deal with. He has a shotgun, which might not be as effective as a machine gun, but it shouldn't be hard to kill those not-so-high-level vampires. By the way, how do rewards usually work in games with group monsters?"

"Small monsters give small rewards, big monsters give big rewards."

"So it's a big haul?"

"Don't count your chickens. When has the Hungry Academy ever been generous? I bet small monsters don't drop any rewards, otherwise Brother Hai would get a huge boost. Of course, given how tough this level is, the final reward won't be low either."

The jiuZhou viewers were spoiled. They weren't worried about their student but were excitedly discussing the potential explosion of supplies.

Foreign viewers found this attitude both incomprehensible and enviable. After just two games, these jiuZhou people had such confidence, all thanks to their student.

However, no one expected that Ji Xinghai didn't sneak into the villa. Instead, he poured a ten-gallon can of gasoline around it and lit it up.

"Refreshing! That's the right move."

"Where did he get the lighter?" The viewers momentarily lost focus but soon got their answer. The gas station attendant would probably explode with anger upon seeing that lighter, indicating that Ji Xinghai had planned this.

In a region with temperatures reaching 55°C, at the peak of sunlight, a wooden villa doused in gasoline, and finally, the flick of a lighter – the outcome was predictable. In less than a minute, flames engulfed the villa, growing more intense by the second, completely unstoppable, with black smoke rising into the sky.

Piercing shrieks echoed from within the burning house, so shrill they didn't seem human.

They were awake.

The viewers outside the screen shuddered, knowing the monsters inside were awake.

Creatures lurking in darkness, feeding on human blood, powerful and contagious... the fear of vampires that had always lurked in their hearts resurfaced, even the scorching midday sun couldn't dispel the shadows deep within their souls.

Ji Xinghai stood in front of the burning house, his expression calm, as if waiting for the right moment to strike. "I have an odd feeling," the deputy head of the Command Unit at Black Tower clenched his hands. "He seems to be done with pretending."

They all knew that Ji Xinghai had emotional difficulties, and the "Ji Xinghai" displayed in the livestream, though strange, was somewhat of a facade, but the viewers didn't know that.

Black Tower had discussed several times when Ji Xinghai might stop pretending and had prepared multiple contingency plans, but the sudden signs still made the deputy head feel a bit nervous.

And he wasn't sure why Ji Xinghai no longer wanted to maintain the facade.

"Because it affects his interests," said the head.

"The most alluring feature of the副本 world for him is the anomalous creatures he can consume. However, the Hungry Academy imposes an NPC protection shield over these creatures, transforming them into inedible dolls upon their 'death.' This must be immensely frustrating for him."

Before others could fully grasp the meaning of these words, the head continued:

"I believe he will take action before the anomalous creatures turn into dolls. We don't know what action he'll take, but when a wolf is hungry and wants to eat a sheep, it doesn't care whether its sheepskin falls off or not.

"Eating the sheep is the ultimate goal, and wearing the sheepskin is just a means to achieve that goal."

At that moment, the burning villa on the screen had turned into a blazing torch. They saw the roof collapse, other parts of the structure start to crumble, and heard the anguished shrieks from within.

The monsters roared and raged, but they didn't dare come out.

For creatures that could only exist in the shadows, the midday sun might be more threatening than the burning flames.

Just as the viewers thought Ji Xinghai would simply burn the vampires to death or force them into the sunlight to self-immolate, following a passive approach, the next moment, this inexplicable student pulled out his demon sword and kicked open the door.

Flames burst out from inside, and his figure, holding the sword with both hands, disappeared into the orange flames and billowing black smoke.