Cheng Feng told the others to take a rest first, while she went ahead alone to scout the map further.
The few survivors had witnessed with their own eyes how she detonated the buried bombs, so they probably wouldn’t dare to push forward with their supplies – meaning they were more likely to head north instead.
Since they weren’t teammates, they’d have to keep their guard up around one another, so they’d generally spread out rather than cluster together. Besides, they’d also want to stay clear of the bandits blocking the middle route, which meant their possible hiding spots could be roughly deduced.
From a probabilistic standpoint, with a total of one thousand examinees at the start, the number transported to the eastern mountain should have been around two hundred.
After that, some were eliminated, and some came down the mountain to regroup with their teammates. By that point, the number remaining on the mountain was probably just over a hundred. Among those, at most fifty were active on the northern side of the forest.
If the four of them made some noise, ordinary examinees would sense something wrong and most likely circle around and slip away through the sides. But the ones guarding the supplies wouldn’t be able to move so easily – how could they run while loaded down with all that gear?
If any examinee did have the resolve to cut their losses and abandon the supplies to retreat, that was fine too – they were after the money, not the people.
So the search wouldn’t actually be that difficult to narrow down.
They also had the roadblock crew in the middle to thank for firmly sealing off the exit.
Watching Cheng Feng walk farther away, until her voice could no longer be heard, Watermelon exchanged a glance with the other young man, then they both leaned toward Zhong Yijie. They threw their arms around his shoulders from either side, draping their weight onto him.
Zhong Yijie rolled his eyes. “What do you two think you’re doing?”
Watermelon punched him lightly in the chest and said in a low voice, “Don’t be so grumpy. Ease up, alright? Why do you keep snapping at her?”
“Yeah, come on, work with her a bit. Four people are better than three. You’ve got such a long face – even your mask can’t hide it!”
“Did two kills buy you off that easily?” Zhong Yijie frowned. “Don’t tell me you actually think the three of us, with her in tow, can break through that encirclement of sixty or seventy people down there?!”
More likely, they’d end up as cannon fodder for Cheng Feng.
Zhong Yijie felt a twinge of regret.
Watermelon tugged at the corner of his mouth and offered some consolation. “Look on the bright side – just think of it as making a contribution to UFU.”
“The MVP sent the request, and you can’t turn it down anyway, so you might as well sit back and enjoy the ride. In a league match, isn’t it all about doing your best and letting fate take its course?”
“Besides, she took down seven people all by herself – that means she’s got real skill. Our whole squad didn’t even manage seven kills just now! At night, a data analyst can move around more freely than we can. Who knows, maybe we can ride her coattails and catch a break!”
“Worst case, we’ll make Xiang Yunjian and the others treat us to a meal once we’re out!”
“I know. I’m not saying ‘no,’ am I?” Zhong Yijie’s gaze flicked between the two of them. “And which pair of eyes did you see me scowling with? Get off me!”
Zhong Yijie shrugged, trying to shove them off, but the two pressed in on him, and soon the three of them were tussling and shoving each other, their boots crunching the dry twigs scattered across the ground.
Before long, Cheng Feng returned. The three of them quickly straightened up and put on serious faces, crouching low to the ground and burying their heads in tactical discussion.
Zhong Yijie made a show of handing a grenade to Watermelon, who raised his hand in a mock salute and said solemnly, “Thank you for the trust. I’ll make every shot count – and if I’m lucky, I’ll take out two birds with one grenade!”
Cheng Feng crouched down beside them and asked curiously, “What’s your best record?”
Watermelon grinned. “We took down 18 kills last year. For third-year students, that’s pretty decent, I’d say.”
Cheng Feng asked, “What about Xiang Yunjian?”
The three of them suddenly fell silent.
After a few seconds, Zhong Yijie said stubbornly, “I didn’t pay attention.”
Cheng Feng knew she probably shouldn’t have asked – it would only stir up the fragile friendship they were all trying so hard to maintain – but seeing their expressions, she just couldn’t help herself.
“Aren’t they MVPs?”
“So what if they’re MVPs?” Watermelon got worked up, craning his neck as he argued. “We don’t care about any MVPs. We only care about ourselves! What matters most is growing and improving as individuals!”
The other two nodded indignantly in agreement.
Cheng Feng: “Oh…”
She unhooked her backpack from her shoulders and pulled out a few directional demolition charges, then told the three of them to bring out the previous batch of supplies so they could consolidate everything.
In this year’s supply kits, the most lethal weapons were the directional demolition charges – though they were hard to control from a distance when it came to blast direction.
Later resupply stations could replenish grenades, ammunition, and rifle grenades, but not directional charges. Five was all a single examinee got, which made them especially precious.
Cheng Feng gave two back to each of them, leaving twenty-seven still in her possession.
She picked up a long, silver-packaged explosive and pressed it into Watermelon’s hand, instructing him. “Use it like a grenade. If one throw doesn’t hit, throw two.”
Watermelon’s fingers trembled. He opened his mouth but could only voice the thought weighing on his mind. “What kind of family does she come from…”
“When they see this, they’ll feel exactly the same way you do. Grenades don’t pack enough punch – this is what really gets the job done.” Cheng Feng continued, “Your job is to throw the charges. It doesn’t matter if you hit or miss – just make sure the noise is huge!”
Watermelon looked up, visibly moved. “Such a glorious mission…”
Cheng Feng said, “That’s right! It’s all yours!”
He stared at her, torn between wondering whether she was sending him to his death, and thinking that if she were, she wouldn’t give him such precious items to be buried with. After a long while, he still couldn’t make sense of it.
Meanwhile, Cheng Feng had already shouldered her pack. She raised a hand and signaled for everyone to get ready. “Stay sharp. Watermelon, you go alone on our right flank – you’re in charge of drawing their attention. The enemy has a lot of supplies too, so don’t give them any chance to strike back.”
Cheng Feng laid out the battle plan and sketched out their route of advance for the three of them.
Even Zhong Yijie was taken aback by her extravagantly aggressive fighting style. He hesitated, then asked, “Is it worth it?”
Cheng Feng turned back and snapped, “Think bigger! What are a few directional charges?! I’m taking you all to claim that mountain!”
Zhong Yijie had to admit – those words hit him hard.
…
At 9 p.m., examinees could still be seen moving through the darkness from time to time.
The young man held a smoke grenade in his hand and a detonator strapped to his chest. He had buried explosive devices within a hundred-meter radius in every direction, guarding against any careless enemy who might try to launch a surprise attack on him in the dark.
As one of the last three survivors in the melee zone, he had picked up four supply packs on top of his own – overnight, he had struck it rich.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t make it down the mountain, so he could only lean against a tree to ease his fatigue.
But there was no way he could sleep tonight. For the past ten minutes, someone had been setting off explosions in the distance – and from the sound of it, they were getting closer and closer.
The young man opened his eyes, hid behind a tree, and muttered curses into his team channel. “What the hell. Are they crazy? Blasting the mountain in the middle of the night!”
He poked his head out and peered through his gun scope toward the direction of the blasts, completely unaware of the faint rustling sound coming from the grass behind him.
The detection monitor showed a large blank area – proof that in addition to directional charges, the other side had also deployed an anti-detection smoke grenade.
Even someone as well-equipped as he was felt his composure starting to crack. He cursed again. “Are they insane?! Are they trying to take down society with them? Any normal person would have run away at the sight of this chaos – who the hell are they even trying to blow up?!”
He shuffled forward in small steps, thought for a moment, then pulled out another directional charge from his pack. But before he could even enjoy this fleeting sense of security, a bullet came flying from behind his head, followed by several more, all hitting him square in the back.
In the blink of an eye, the young man – along with all his gear and his bewildered shock – was eliminated from the exam arena. It all happened so fast that he didn’t even have time to press the detonator in his hand.
After a few moments, once she’d confirmed there was no one else around, a figure walked over to the body. A suppressed female voice came through the darkness. “Search him. Making all that racket and still holed up here – talk about a hoarder.”
…
The sweep of the northern mountain went exceptionally smoothly, lasting all the way until 9 p.m. – and keeping everyone from getting any sleep.
Cheng Feng was extremely familiar with the map, and her judgment of where the examinees were hiding was remarkably accurate. With their combat strength intact, the group successfully eliminated 7 examinees and seized 15 supply packs. Watermelon’s directional charges were also completely used up by then.
There were probably still a few who had slipped through the net, but Cheng Feng decided they had enough.
There was simply too much loot – they had to pick and choose what to discard.
Cheng Feng said, “Ditch the rope, the extra guns, and the converters. Also get rid of the knives. Max out your satiety first, and if there’s still stuff we can’t carry, toss some food.”
As Watermelon threw things out, his heart bled with every item. He kept repeating in a trembling voice, “This is way too extravagant! What kind of family does she come from?!”
His companion’s tears carried a hint of blissful guilt. “Wasting supplies is a sin! I’m committing a crime – what do I do? I’m so scared.”
Zhong Yijie coughed awkwardly from the side, hoping his two teammates wouldn’t look so utterly out of their depth.
Squandering should be something every poor person has fantasized about – so just go ahead and act it out with flair!
While the group was sorting through the supplies, Jiang Linxia trotted over cheerfully to report. “Cheng Feng, we put together a full supply pack just for you! Happy?”
Cheng Feng glanced at the pile of supplies that was nearly stacking up into a small mountain and replied flatly, “Oh.”
“Don’t be mad,” Jiang Linxia said. “I figured you’d like smoke grenades, so we rounded up five for you! How about that!”
Cheng Feng remained unmoved. “I don’t need them.”
Jiang Linxia chuckled. “Ooh, quite the temper. Such a kid – you shouldn’t speak so absolutely.”
Cheng Feng tossed a box of submachine gun ammo to Zhong Yijie with a look of disdain.
Xiang Yunjian asked, “How’s it going on your side?”
“I’m moving with Zhong Yijie,” Cheng Feng said with emphasis. “Zhong Yijie and the others are great!”
Xiang Yunjian gave an “mm” and said, “Zhong Yijie’s group is decent. Make sure to keep yourself safe.”
Safe?
The people up on the mountain should be the ones worrying about their own safety.
