Chapter 188

Chapter 188

As the new potion, dubbed "Miracle Roach Killer," was deployed across various medium- and high-risk zones, First Empire Academy’s points began skyrocketing at an exponential rate, refreshing every minute and leaving all other schools utterly bewildered.

“They can’t possibly be hunting Insectoids nonstop without eating, sleeping, or resting, can they?” Murphy, though never overly concerned with points, felt uneasy about falling so far behind. “How are they doing it… Did they discover a more effective alchemical formula?”

The system store had recently added several new exchangeable alchemical materials—visible to all teams. Yang Haibo had noticed this change early on, but after hours of contemplation, he couldn’t deduce how these materials connected to the Insectoids.

“They’re just basic components with synergistic effects. If we’re forcing a link to the competition, they could only be used to brew short-term healing potions. Even then, that wouldn’t explain First Empire’s massive point surge.”

Frustrated, he scratched his head. But Murphy shifted his stance: “Forget it. Catching up seems impossible now. In that case, let’s just exchange our points.”

“Now?” Yang Haibo was stunned. “It’s only the fourth day.”

With one day remaining, exchanging for third-round weapons and gear now would eliminate any chance of recovering ground in this round.

“Points are meant to be spent,” Murphy said firmly, opening the store interface on his wrist device. “Rather than clinging to this round, we should upgrade our equipment immediately.”

At Blue Star Comprehensive, Murphy Garcia held absolute authority. Whether due to family influence or personal dominance, he acted less like a student president and more like a sovereign. All of Blue Star’s accumulated points were under his control.

He glanced slyly at Yang Haibo, a fox-like smirk on his face: “Besides, First Empire has earned so many points—they’ll definitely be exchanging soon too. If we upgrade first, we can just steal their supplies. The rules ban stealing points, but they say nothing about stealing items bought with points.”

“......”

While that logic wasn’t flawed, Yang Haibo’s instincts as an alchemist tingled with unease. If even Murphy could think of this, wouldn’t First Empire have anticipated it? With such a massive point lead, how could they not have already exchanged?

After a brief hesitation, he decided not to touch his device: “I still want to keep competing.”

Something told him that mass exchanges now would bring disaster. This time, he chose to trust his gut.

Out of basic alliance courtesy, once Murphy finished selecting items, Yang Haibo led the Imperial University of Science and Technology team away. Shortly after, a delivery drone arrived with their supplies.

Hand cannons, alchemical defense gear, even a tripod-mounted synthetic ion cannon—one of the store’s flagship items—Murphy purchased one of each. Though Yang Haibo hadn’t agreed, Murphy still exchanged for a batch of alchemical materials, intending to later ask Yang Haibo to inscribe enhancement formulas onto his team’s weapons.

As a disciple of the Luo family’s foremost weapons master, Yang Haibo excelled more in weapon modification than potion brewing.

He signed for the delivered supplies via the committee’s drone. Except for the bulky synthetic ion cannon, which he left stored in the system warehouse for the next round, all other items were handed over immediately.

And the moment the drone’s red light turned green—“Verification Passed”—a sound wave, far below human hearing range, erupted instantly!

*Hummm— Hummm—*

The low, steady frequency directly assaulted their mental realms. Instantly, every Blue Star Comprehensive student broke into goosebumps, teeth chattering uncontrollably. Their consciousness churned; their minds went blank. Murphy reacted fastest—he realized they were under attack—but his body trembled violently, frozen despite his will.

Students hidden God-knows-where suddenly emerged. Dressed in the pristine uniforms of First Empire Academy, they boldly snatched the newly exchanged supplies right before the eyes of the paralyzed Blue Star team!

Unbearable. Murphy, who had never suffered such public humiliation, stared in shock, his fox-like eyes widening into perfect circles. In his rage, his control over the sound wave wavered for a split second.

“Stop!” Murphy roared.

He never expected First Empire to launch a robbery at this moment. Seeing their points climb steadily, anyone would assume they were frantically hunting Insectoids—not launching attacks.

He channeled psychic energy into the Mecha Summon Button on his wrist. But simultaneously, Song Xingxing—hidden behind a tree—downed an entire bottle of psychic recovery potion. Her Spiritual State ability reactivated, and the low-frequency hum surged again, forcibly disrupting Murphy’s energy flow. The Mecha, halfway through materialization, froze mid-emergence.

Unable to move, Murphy could only watch as First Empire students showed no mercy. Grace raised her arm, rallying the group. They grabbed the newly acquired gear and fled, leaving the Blue Star team seething in helpless fury.

Meanwhile, the instant the sound wave activated, Yang Haibo frowned at the foot of the mountain and suddenly shouted, “Wait—something’s wrong!”

“What?”

The other Imperial University students instinctively halted with their leader. Yang Haibo turned back. His psychic energy was only B-rank, rendering him nearly useless in combat among the elite Five-School League teams. That was why he’d allied with Blue Star—to compensate for weaknesses.

He took a step forward—and that was when the incident occurred.

A rustling came from the grass, like a slithering serpent. Though they knew Santha Star hosted no exotic flora or fauna besides Insectoids, the Imperial University students still flinched—

Or perhaps precisely *because* they knew only Insectoids lived here, they were terrified.

Using the tall grass’s camouflage, the Mist Cloud Vine had lain in wait until the students were at peak panic. Then it shot up like a green anaconda, wrapping around the ankles of over a dozen students. The sudden cold contact shocked them so badly they forgot to summon Mechas. By the time they were all tangled together, there was no space left to deploy anything.

With a swoosh, the world flipped. The vine gave a violent shake, and amid shrieks of “Eek!” and “Ahh!”, hoisted the group upside down onto nearby poplar trees—all except Yang Haibo.

Considering the alchemist’s frail build and the likelihood that his mentor was a behind-the-scenes sponsor of the organizing committee, Luo Lin spared him.

Though President Yang probably didn’t appreciate the gesture.

“You’re Luo Lin Medici from First Empire Academy.”

Yang Haibo had stumbled and fallen when the vine struck, but he kept his composure, attempting negotiation: “You’re already leading the leaderboard. Why attack us Imperial University students? If this is about the incident two nights ago, I don’t know who was responsible—but it wasn’t us or Blue Star Comprehensive.”

Despite uncertainty over First Empire’s motives, Yang Haibo laid out every possibility. But the Medici heiress merely shot him a cold glance and called behind her: “Imperial University hasn’t exchanged anything yet.”

“Ah, I told you—knowing my senior’s personality, he’d never casually spend hoarded points before the final day,” a cheerful male voice chimed in. “But Luo Lin, you’re so strict. If he hasn’t exchanged, just force him to.”

That tone, that voice—too familiar. Yang Haibo gasped, “Tachibana Maki!”

“Why shout? It’s not like you just found out I attend First Empire.”

Like a whirlwind, the phoenix-eyed youth swept over. Grinning, he crouched down to look at his disheveled senior, feigning surprise: “Senior, how did you end up like this? Luo Lin, couldn’t you go easier on family?”

Luo Lin ignored his theatrics, but Yang Haibo sighed, “...Can you stop acting like such a jerk?”

“Fine,” Tachibana Maki shrugged, wiping the smirk off his face. He extended a hand and said seriously, “Since you hate small talk, let’s be direct: 200 points’ worth of exchange items per person. Your school’s points are mostly with you, right? Goods for hostages.”

“This is robbery.”

“Yes, Senior, you’re so sharp.”

“Why target Imperial University?”

“You’ve got plenty of points.”

“I won’t give them,” Yang Haibo gritted out. “The competition prohibits mutual harm. You’ve just suspended us—you can’t actually hurt us. In the end, you’ll just waste time here.”

“After seeing the Insectoid swarm two nights ago, you still believe in ‘no mutual harm’? I don’t even know what to say,” Tachibana Maki sighed dramatically. “And you have the energy to worry about us? Sorry, but First Empire has already cracked true perpetual motion—we no longer need to hunt Insectoids ourselves.”

“—Haven’t you noticed our team’s points rising nonstop, day and night?”

He curled his lips meaningfully.

“What do you mean…” Yang Haibo trailed off, then realization struck. “The extra alchemical materials in the store—it’s because of you?”

Tachibana Maki smiled, silent. Some things were better left unspoken.

Even with allies possibly ambushed and his students held hostage, Yang Haibo had stayed composed. But now, learning First Empire had somehow manipulated the organizing committee itself, he looked utterly defeated.

“How on earth did you pull that off? To actually…”

Yang Haibo exhaled sharply, then changed tack: “I’ll give you exchange items worth 3,000 points—but you must tell me how First Empire boosted their points, and how it connects to the new materials.”

He didn't know that Eve had already explained all these things clearly in front of the entire Star Network. Tachibana Maki exchanged a glance with Luo Lin, and after Luo Lin nodded, Tachibana Maki replied, "Alright, but you have to pay the points first, and we can't tell you the specific principles of the potion."

Understandable, since once the principles of the potion are known to others, there's a risk of replication. Although Tachibana Maki’s way of speaking was irritating, he was still trustworthy. Yang Haibo didn’t press further and simply raised his wrist.

But just before his finger touched the screen of his wrist-mounted device, Tachibana Maki stopped him again, "Wait, we choose what you exchange."

"Whatever," Yang Haibo curled his lips, "It’s only a three-thousand-point limit anyway."

Eve hadn’t given specific instructions about what to exchange, but before setting out, she had expressed concern about the organizing committee’s trap-laying behavior.

"All those weapons, even high-power composite ion guns—it’s clearly baiting everyone to buy them, right? Just after exchanging alchemy materials that were highly useful in this round, it’s natural to assume the remaining weapons will be useful in the next round," she said slowly. "But what if the weapons exchanged at great cost turn out to be useless in the next round?"

...How could weapons possibly be useless?

Someone was about to retort, but after taking a closer look at the store page, they broke out in a cold sweat of dread.

Many of the weapons provided by the organizing committee, though seemingly powerful, had unavoidable flaws. Some malfunction in thunderstorm conditions, some broke upon contact with water, some couldn’t withstand extreme temperatures, and others had to be mounted on level ground to be fired. The flaws varied. Though it was impossible to deduce the environment of the next round from this, the organizing committee’s malicious intent was clear.

After whispering head-to-head for a moment, Tachibana Maki and Luo Lin both fell silent. Even Yang Haibo sensed something was off and squinted suspiciously, "You’ve taken so long to decide what to exchange—did you discover some problem?"

One was the young master of the Tachibana family, the other the young mistress of the Medici family—neither was the type to be frugal. For them to hesitate so long over the exchange page, Yang Haibo couldn’t help but suspect something else.

"Guess?"

Tachibana Maki suddenly changed his expression, resuming his initially casual, mocking attitude, and turned to select several items on Yang Haibo’s wrist unit.

The items he chose were oddly placed—neither in the lower-point material sections of the first few pages nor in the high-point weapon sections of the last few pages. The selections spanned many pages, some with items checked from top to bottom, others with none selected at all. It didn’t seem impulsive... more like someone was guiding him from the other side.

Yang Haibo’s eyes shifted to Tachibana Maki’s left earlobe, where a silver earring glinted faintly beneath his loose black hair.

It was a communication device enhanced with alchemy.

Fully aware that Yang Haibo was staring at his earring, Tachibana Maki made no attempt to hide it and instead quickened his selection speed. Soon, he pushed the checkout screen in front of his *Shixiong*—2,990 points—and grinned:

"Thanks for your patronage! I’ll knock off the last ten points as a favor between us!"

So irritating. Yang Haibo rolled his eyes and paid without hesitation. Even so, Tachibana Maki didn’t withdraw his hand but deleted the exchange record entirely before saying insincerely, "Sorry, *Shixiong*, but this is related to our school’s strategy for the next round. It’s not convenient to share with outsiders."

"Stop calling me *Shixiong*—it’s disgusting," Yang Haibo frowned. "Just hand over the prisoners and tell me what you need to."

"So impatient..."

"Both groups are sorted out," Lorca said. "The store really is problematic. Wenzhou says Imperial Arts and Sciences didn’t exchange a single weapon."

The "both sides" naturally referred to the alliance of Blue Star Comprehensive and Imperial University of Science and Technology, and Imperial Arts and Sciences. Capital People's University, having been thoroughly beaten early on, was excluded from the discussion.

In the distance, there were still thunderous, dense rumbles—the sounds of frenzied Zerg fighting. Amid the river of blood, only this small shaded area remained peaceful. Eve sat on a tree branch with her legs crossed, while Lorca stood below.

Ignoring the terrifying background noise, the scene looked quite warm and harmonious—though probably only the two involved would think so.

Unlike their "pig-fattening strategy" approach to Blue Star and Imperial University of Science and Technology, after learning from Zao Jian Chun Sha about Zhou Huixue’s involvement, First Empire Academy began hunting down Imperial Arts and Sciences personnel outside. Unfortunately, Zhou Huixue seemed to have anticipated this, splitting her team early and handed off her comms device to subordinates. With the Mist Ravens' surveillance capabilities, she managed to hide for a full day and a half before being accidentally encountered by Luo Wenzhou’s team on another path.

"......"

Truly, even the cleverest can have a moment of bad luck.

Smart people are good at recognizing the situation, and Zhou Huixue was no exception. Before being caught, she had one attitude; after being caught, she had another, cooperating fully when questioned—though some answers were undoubtedly dishonest. But under Jessica’s Spiritual State ability, she was compelled to tell the truth.

Luo Wenzhou’s team didn’t shake her down; her account was empty. Soon after the failed night raid on First Empire Academy, she had eagerly exchanged all her points for items in the store. When caught, she didn’t even have 200 points on her.

"People can’t be judged by appearances," Eve remarked.

She hadn’t participated in capturing anyone from any school or individual, focusing instead on moving between areas, repeating the mechanical work of brewing and deploying toxins. To concentrate points in the first team, this task could only be done by first-team members.

Besides, Zerg toxins were too dangerous. Aside from herself and the resistant Lorca, Eve didn’t trust anyone else to handle it.

Even so, from Luo Wenzhou’s complaints over the communication device, she could infer what a tough customer Chairwoman Zhou was.

Eve chuckled softly and turned her attention back to the list she had just noted.

"Pressure intensifier, climate-control suits, drilling machine, mobile cabin, and a half-hour beast-speech translation orb... It feels very targeted," Eve murmured, tapping her knuckles against the tree trunk behind her. "Did Zhou Huixue figure out some important clue?"

Surely she didn’t deduce it from the messy items in the system store? There were over a hundred scattered items. Even if the lure poison was eavesdropped from Imperial University of Science and Technology, guessing the next round’s theme from such fragmented clues seemed almost preternaturally clever.

"She’s smart, but not that exaggerated. She probably just sensed the uniqueness of the next round and prepared comprehensively in advance."

Lorca tapped the paper thoughtfully. "These items are mostly survival tools that combine functionality with being non-craftable. Though they seem plain, compared to things like small boats or demo packs that can be simulated with alchemy, Zhou Huixue’s choices are much more specialized."

"Will the third round be in an extreme environment?" Eve guessed.

Lorca shook his head, indicating he didn’t know.

"Whatever," Eve said after a moment, deciding to drop it. She folded the list and opened her wrist unit. "This round should be ending soon."

At the top of the rankings, First Empire Academy’s team led way out in front, far ahead of second-place Imperial University of Science and Technology. Though they had extorted them, Imperial University of Science and Technology had deep reserves, and Eve hadn’t expected to take them out in one go.

Further down, last place was, unsurprisingly, Imperial Arts and Sciences. They seemed to have completely abandoned this round, spending all their points. Above them was Blue Star Comprehensive, making their last stand but too late to change their fate. Even scrabbling for points before the end only allowed them to exchange for one or two items.

...And if they exchanged for weapons, those points were wasted.

Eve didn’t waste time on fools, glancing briefly at Blue Star Comprehensive before scanning upward. It was then she realized that after shaking down all the other schools, she had missed Capital People's University—they actually had one team in the top five.

Staring at Capital People's University’s team name for a long time, Eve admitted she felt a bit of regret.

"Imperial Arts and Sciences has pretty much given up on the first two rounds," Lorca said helplessly. "It seems they’re going all-in to win the third round."

As the largest team competition, the third round counted for far more than the first two. Given Imperial Arts and Sciences’ long-game approach, sacrificing the early rounds to prepare for the final wasn’t surprising.

Eve calmly closed her wrist unit. "It doesn’t matter. We’ve already achieved our goal in advance."

After all, the Five-School League was just a selection for the final alliance league. Given the current situation, First Empire Academy, having won two rounds consecutively, could send at least seven or eight people.

For them, the priority wasn’t winning the third round but ensuring First Empire Academy students stood out in the larger tournament to secure spots in the major league.

"Besides, we won’t have to worry about the next round—isn’t Anthony coming back?"

She pointed lightly at Lorca’s smooth forehead, her tone airy.

The more capable you are, the more work you’ll have. You must learn to pass the buck to leadership.

The unprecedentedly long night finally crept by. Dawn broke along the horizon, and when the announcement signaling the end of the competition rang out across the arena, everyone except First Empire Academy students let out a collective sigh of relief. Some even wept with relief—

Thank heavens! This grueling and humiliating final day was finally over!