He Siyu felt that the unease in her heart had only grown stronger over the past two days.
Lately, she'd even had the feeling that it was no longer they who were hunting the mutant beasts and star beasts, but rather that the enemy was hunting them?
Her naturally meticulous disposition led her to make the decision to temporarily abandon the idea of hunting for bonus points, choosing instead a more cautious route.
Combined with the coordinated early warnings from the four S-class members in the team, the day passed by relatively smoothly.
But Qilin and Valk had both gained twenty points without any prior indication, and He Siyu couldn't help but wonder—was there something special about the number "twenty"?
During previous matches, scoring announcements would barely ever stop, yet even then, the same score never really appeared all that often.
Could they really have just happened to encounter the same number of star beasts? On Blizza? The probability was too low. But if not that, then why?
To this point, the organizers still hadn't announced any hidden rules…
"Captain."
Fu Xingyuan handed her a cup of hot tea.
He Siyu finally snapped back to attention and took the cup.
"Thanks."
"Cross that bridge when we come to it."
Hearing her teammate's words, He Siyu was taken aback for a moment.
"Am I really that obvious?"
"Not exactly obvious… but your expression is a bit sour. Others probably wouldn't notice."
Wu Pingzhuo, who had spent a long time in his sleeping bag trying to find a comfortable position but only getting more awake, sighed and sat up.
"Why aren't you asleep yet?"
Wu Pingzhuo pulled open his sleeping bag and sat up properly, rubbing his chest with his right hand in a low voice, "Can't sleep. My heart just won't settle."
Not long after, Leola let out a sigh and sat up too, with a tuft of hair sticking out on her head.
Wu Pingzhuo exchanged a glance with her.
"You can't sleep either?"
Leola listlessly nodded.
"I'm restless too."
He Siyu felt guilty upon hearing this.
"Is my mood affecting you all?"
Wu Pingzhuo scratched his chin.
"It's not about you. I've been thinking about those snowy owls we ran into earlier…"
Leola crawled out of her sleeping bag and sat by the fire, rubbing her face.
"It just feels like everything's out of sorts… Valk even wanted to team up with us to take down Huang Yan, but now they're nowhere to be found. Where the hell did they go?"
Wu Pingzhuo rolled over, "Ugh… you think maybe there's a star beast tide erupting somewhere?"
"If anything could make it to Blizza, other than star beasts that are extremely cold-resistant, wouldn't everything else just freeze to death?"
He Siyu glanced at the thermometer attached to the tent and felt a bit more relieved.
At this temperature, humans alone couldn't survive outside. Blizza's native star beasts and mutant beasts were few in number. If any outsiders truly arrived, they'd probably die quickly.
"It couldn't be the Zerg, right?"
Wu Pingzhuo blurted it out casually, but that one sentence made all three people around him freeze.
The Zerg? Wait!
Those inexplicable hordes of mutant beasts encountered earlier, and the strange psychic attacks from the snowy owls… it all suddenly made sense!
Wu Pingzhuo had only been joking, but seeing everyone's faces instantly turn serious, he swallowed dryly and mumbled, "I was just talking out of my ass. Don't scare me. It's not actually the Zerg, is it?"
Fu Xingyuan tilted his head, thinking.
"All I remember is that snowy owls shouldn't have psychic abilities in their attack arsenal."
He Siyu immediately followed up, "If they're being parasitized… that would make perfect sense."
"How does that make sense?! Don't say such terrifying things in such a serious tone!"
"Resistant to cold, unusually aggressive, and capable of psychic attacks…"
A few moments later, the four of them heard the latest score announcement.
"First Military Academy, First Squad, plus twenty points."
Leola's shocked gaze collided with Wu Pingzhuo's in midair, and the two nearly sprang up from the ground in an instant!
"What the hell?! What does this point gain mean!?"
Wu Pingzhuo stared wide-eyed at the small drone, fully awake in a flash.
Wait, they didn't even notify them that there were Zerg now?
"Are they really Zerg? There are Zerg on Blizza?! Are they the low-risk kind like giant tube worms?"
No sooner had she asked than Leola regretted it. With the snowy owls being parasitized and attacking them, how could it be anything good?!
"Is the finals really this hard? If someone gets parasitized, do the organizers have a solution? Does the Federal Medical Academy have some new technology?"
The questions kept coming, one after another, but no answer ever arrived.
It was at this moment that He Siyu finally understood how Qilin and Valk had gotten their twenty points. Those two teams had figured out the truth before them, and she just didn't know whether they'd encountered the Zerg yet.
"Please continue the competition, contestants."
Fu Xingyuan frowned at the drone for a long while. Though he didn't say a word, the meaning in his eyes was unmistakable: 'This doesn't add up.'
He Siyu locked eyes with her three teammates, and she basically understood what they were all thinking.
But it was already late at night. Besides the Zerg threat, the blizzard and freezing temperatures outside were fatal to them.
And the safety officer had personally confirmed that there were Zerg on Blizza. This was something she needed to carefully mull over.
"All teammates, check your surroundings and your gear first."
Actually, she didn't even need to say it. The second they heard that Blizza really did have Zerg, the other three had already extended their psychic senses, terrified that there was one hidden somewhere in the tent or nearby.
As everyone well knew, the Zerg weren't just made up of star beast-sized creatures—they also had ones too small to see with the naked eye…
But after carefully checking the surrounding area, nothing seemed to be there. Perhaps even the Zerg feared this temperature?
He Siyu opened her eyes and pondered for a moment.
"Being out in the open is too dangerous. Everyone, head back into your mech cockpits for the night. It won't be as comfortable as the tent, but at least it's safer, and our mobility will be better."
"Agreed."
The wind and snow outside were fierce, but moving from the tent into the cockpit wouldn't take that much time.
With a discovery like this, everyone from First Military Academy knew there was no chance of rest tonight. The only question was what the situation was like for Qilin and Valk?
Knowing Qilin's rotten luck, could they have already engaged with the Zerg?
Jian Jingyu, that kid, normally seemed easygoing, but when he fought, he was a brute. What if they were too close…
"Pfft, pfft, pfft!"
Wu Pingzhuo shook all the negative thoughts out of his head. He was the last to pack up the tent, then turned and climbed into his own mech.
Those two teams' commanders had plenty of tricks up their sleeves. They'd definitely be fine!
Besides, now wasn't the time to worry about others. He himself had killed quite a few mutant beasts over the past two days…
Hearing the announcement, students from the other two military academies opened their eyes in an instant. He Siyu and her team had finally figured it out!
Good. That meant they were still relatively safe for now.
All they had to do was hold out until tomorrow. Once everyone linked up, they could start planning their counterattack.
