Wang Tianwei and the others didn't know if they had been dropped at the edge of the rainforest.
They hadn't encountered any other teams all afternoon, and as for star beasts, they had only run into the one Huang Yan discovered at the very beginning.
However, this seemed to be a good thing for now. After all, no one expected Asahi's main team to be eliminated less than two hours into the competition!
Furthermore, their elimination announcement was immediately followed by Valk's points announcement. It was hard to say if the two were related.
"Maybe Valk has already found their school's other team, defeated two star beasts, and eliminated Asahi!"
"Sigh... I wonder where the seniors are."
"Our military academy has already gained thirty points today, and not a single team has been eliminated. Everyone is holding steady!"
Jian Jingyu looked at the roast meat on his stick and felt it was about done.
"Sister Zebra, you eat first."
Wang Tianwei set the boiled water aside to cool. Hearing this, she took the meat skewer.
"There are forty-five teams in total. In the early stages, there are plenty of mutant beasts and star beasts, so everyone is definitely busy earning points. Later on, they'll start hunting people... Sir Huang, what do you think?"
Huang Yan made a few cuts on his own meat skewer with a small knife and put it back over the fire to roast.
"In theory, yes, but we can't rule out that some military academies with more teams might adopt a more aggressive strategy...
As star beasts become scarcer later on, the possibility of being used as bait by others will also increase... We need to be more careful when trying to score points later."
Zhang Lyra chewed heartily on the crocodile meat. It was quite chewy? A bit like a combination of chicken and fish.
"Then can we reverse-exploit this, earning points while eliminating others?"
"...That is, assuming the opponent only has one team."
Wang Tianwei suddenly sat up straight.
"Could there be alliances between different military academies right now?"
Huang Yan thought for a moment.
"Unlikely. The first round of the survival competition is entirely aimed at eliminating people.
I guess teams from the same military academy must have been separated by great distances... Teaming up with other military academies now carries a high risk of being backstabbed.
And as far as I know, none of our ten military academies have particularly good relationships with each other. Even if they formed an alliance, they wouldn't completely trust each other."
Chao Hao, who was watching the live broadcast, couldn't hold back upon hearing this.
"This kid Huang Yan really knows how to analyze!"
Fu Manli was sitting on the other side of the conference room table.
"Huang Yan's brain is unquestionable. Teacher Zhai from the Command Department even said that this child's only current shortcoming is his spiritual power... If he could upgrade to S-class, he would definitely achieve even more!"
"He will naturally upgrade when the time comes... But these few kids are not inferior to S-class either!
Especially when they are together, I feel that even an all S-class team might not be able to do anything to them. I hope they can get a good ranking this time..."
After Huang Yan and the others finished dinner,
"Little Bear and I will take the first watch of the night. Goldfish, you and Sister Zebra will take the second watch. Any problems?"
"None!"
The two obediently crawled into the tent!
Although they had already teamed up for countless training sessions in the Spine-Fearing Mountains over the past few months, whenever this time came, Wang Tianwei would always feel how great it was to have teammates!
She didn't have to be on edge worrying about midnight enemy attacks, nor did she have to worry about whether the fire would go out or if things would be lost.
Sleeping soundly for half the night was much better than spending the whole night half-asleep!
Huang Yan had now mastered the skill of spreading out his spiritual power for early warning even while sleeping!
Combined with Jian Jingyu's strong S-class perception, the two of them could help Wang Tianwei and Zhang Lyra avoid a lot of trouble in advance! The distribution of one person for each half of the night was very reasonable!
Yama Chao's reminder was correct; the weather in the rainforest really did change at the drop of a hat!
It was fine in the afternoon, but it suddenly started raining heavily in the middle of the night!
When Wang Tianwei and Jian Jingyu came out to change shifts, they were forced to put on raincoats. The rain here was fiercer than in the Spine-Fearing Mountains! It actually hurt when it hit their bodies!
Even though they had built a shelter over the campfire, it was soon soaked by the water mist and moisture, flickering as if it were about to go out...
Seeing this, the two simply took advantage of the remaining fire to prepare breakfast in advance, and at the same time replenished the water they had consumed!
After long periods of training, Huang Yan and Zhang Lyra were already able to fall asleep amid the sound of rain!
From time to time, Wang Tianwei braved the heavy rain to get up and patrol the area.
The rainwater would wash away the scent-masking agents and insect repellents they had sprayed before going to sleep.
Her spiritual power was not as good as Huang Yan's. Although Jian Jingyu was there, if they encountered small things like ordinary snakes, insects, rats, or ants, they would inevitably overlook them.
Being bitten in the rainforest might not be fatal to them right now, but it would definitely affect their subsequent performance!
It was better to be safe than sorry!
In the second half of the night, two more teams were eliminated. The sound of the broadcast was almost drowned out by the heavy rain!
Wang Tianwei kept her ears pricked up and finally heard clearly that the eliminated teams were from Yuying Military Academy and Beichen Military Academy.
"It's not Qilin!"
Jian Jingyu breathed a sigh of relief.
But the broadcast half an hour later made both of their hearts sink.
"Qilin Military Academy First Squad, plus ten points."
The two looked at each other in the heavy rain.
"Encountering a star beast at this time?"
"They must have been attacked... It's not worth it to brave such heavy rain just to earn points."
"I hope the seniors rested well during the first half of the night..."
Huang Yan also groggily heard this announcement.
His spiritual power did not detect anything approaching, so he rolled over and went back to sleep.
Lack of sleep would affect his judgment tomorrow. Since he couldn't help them, he had to take care of himself first.
The members of Qilin's Li Hece squad were completely drenched from head to toe!
Looking at their messy camp now, they were all caught between laughter and tears.
"Captain, water has gotten inside the tents... Should we still pitch them?"
They had been resting perfectly fine when they were unexpectedly attacked by a giant python!
The problem was that this giant python wasn't a star beast, nor had it mutated... It had simply lived in the rainforest for many years!
Therefore, Li Hece, who had been paying attention to spiritual power fluctuations, hadn't taken it seriously at all, even thinking that it was just an ordinary animal that he could easily deal with himself...
Who knew that compared to them, although the python's combat power was average... its body was truly massive!
Launching a surprise attack from the trees, it casually thrashed around a few times and completely destroyed the camp they had built!?
When Gavin was struck by the snake's tail in his sleep, he was completely dazed!
By the time Li Hece and his teammates killed the python, the smell of blood attracted a star beast...
Upon securing these ten points, every member of the squad was soaked through!
The tents were flooded, the fire was out... The ground was covered in bright red, looking like a slaughterhouse! Even now, the snake's corpse was still twitching...
Their rest for the second half of the night was completely ruined!
"Let's find another place to pitch the tents... Pack away the snake's corpse so it doesn't attract anything else."
"...Yes."
The four big boys, holding flashlights and braving the heavy rain, moved to a slightly cleaner spot.
Unable to light another campfire, one person could only provide illumination while the rest pitched the tents.
Although the insides of the tents were also wet, once they were set up, there would at least be a place for them to change clothes.
"Don't forget to take cold medicine, everyone!"
"Got it!"
