At 3:40 in the morning, the wind and snow had yet to fully subside, and the three military academies' contingents were already preparing to set out.
Today was the fifth day of the finals — by the competition's timeline, they had reached the final stage, yet none of the teams were searching for where the academy's bonus-point button was located.
Everyone was focused on rendezvousing as quickly as possible, then figuring out a way to relay a message to the outside world and escape Planet Blizza.
Kes had been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the leader, and upon receiving the order, he tapped out a line of subtitle text on the screen with barely contained excitement, then pinned it to the top:
"Day Five — Welcome to the Hunter's Game!"
The hearts of the Federated citizens who saw that line nearly stopped! The star cruiser carrying Meng Chongyun was already pushing its speed to the absolute limit.
As those words finally vanished from the screen, the sight that appeared before the three teams was utterly suffocating...
Dawn had not yet broken, and everyone had to switch on their mecha headlights to light the way forward.
But the moment their illumination switched on, they saw all manner of mutated beasts and star-beasts converging from every direction.
Though there was still some distance between them and the group of eight, gazing out, the horde stretched beyond the horizon.
"...Did we just get served as breakfast?"
Thanks to the explanations from Hiranuma Yusho and Wu Fangyu, the Qilin squad now knew that when eyes turned black, it meant infestation by ordinary Voidbugs; if the eyes turned gold, it meant infestation by a higher-level Alpha Voidbug.
Some of the mutated beasts were sprinting toward them at unnaturally fast speeds, and Jian Jingyu's mind was fixated on Voidbugs —
"What's going on with the red-eyed ones?"
"Idiot, star-beasts naturally have red eyes!"
Zhang Lyra was already deploying the cannon array mounted on her back as she spoke,
"Little Bear, open fire!"
"Roger!"
Huang Yan and Hiranuma Yusho were under enormous strain — the moment the Voidbugs' psychic force activated, both of them began suffering from ringing ears! The colossal tube-worms of Ernox were nothing compared to these creatures.
The squad members fully expanded their own psychic force, absorbing most of the pressure for the two commanders, which allowed them to simultaneously deploy psychic attacks against the airborne mutant beasts and fill the gaps in the team's firepower.
The mech engineers and commanders used every skill they'd learned from the infantry specialists to the fullest — switching between long-range and melee combat seamlessly.
Wang Tianwei had three psychic barriers stacked over her head: one was her own, the other two belonged to the two vice-captains.
Jian Jingyu and Zhang Lyra would also glance her way from time to time — everyone knew she only had A-rank psychic power and was more vulnerable to Voidbug influence.
Yet Wang Tianwei stayed wholly focused on slaying star-beasts the entire time, the commands from Huang Yan and the continuous warnings from her two teammates coming through her earpiece.
She quickly fell into the same immersive state she practiced during daily drills, and surprisingly, she became less sensitive to the star-beasts' psychic attacks.
"Watch out — keep distance from the dead mutated beasts. They can detach from their original bodies and re-infest a new host."
Hiranuma Yusho reminded them again.
"Understood. We've seen that before."
"Boom!"
Zhang Lyra, utterly serious with a blank expression, centered her aim dead on the foreheads of the star-beasts — one shot each, no misses whatsoever.
"Nine o'clock direction, clear within fifty meters."
The moment she finished speaking, Taylor added,
"Twelve o'clock direction, clear within fifty meters."
Wu Fangyu and Barry advanced together at a slightly faster pace,
"Two o'clock direction, clean within seventy meters!"
"Don't spread out too far — hold this perimeter! Goldfish's team, Horse Sister, fall back slightly, prepare to break through!"
"Sir, yes!"
"Roger!"
"Qilin Military Academy, Fourth Squad — plus ten points."
"Valk Military Academy, First Squad — plus thirteen points."
"Qilin Military Academy, Fourth Squad — plus seventeen points."
The "scorekeepers" were still dutifully announcing updates, feeding scores into the bonus-point system without pause.
They themselves didn't know what purpose all of this served anymore. But it was the muscle memory of these bodies, and Wei-Chang hadn't called a stop — so they would keep doing it.
"Valk Military Academy, First Squad..."
Both squads were hard-pressed against the horde of parasitic beasts and star-beasts. First Military Academy, with only four members and not a wink of sleep the entire night, was under even greater pressure!
The relentless strikes from land and air made it difficult even to maintain formation.
If it weren't for their superior combat skill — never wasting a single shot — they would have been swallowed by the swarm long ago.
"This isn't working!"
He Siyu ducked low, dodging the ice spikes spat out by the frost-screaming falcons above, then shifted her mecha into flight mode; the other three mechs followed immediately.
"Safety officer teacher, this difficulty has gone beyond a normal competition. We demand direct communication with the event committee!"
He Siyu tested the waters, speaking to the "little bee" drone inside the cockpit.
The other three teammates stayed silent, waiting for the safety officer to respond.
"Did you not hear me, Safety Officer teacher? We're filing a complaint!"
As she spoke those words, a sliver of hope flickered in He Siyu's heart — but the "little bee" paused for a moment, then returned, once again:
"Contestants are required to continue the competition."
"Bang!"
Without further hesitation, He Siyu aimed her fire lance and blew up the aerial camera.
A safety officer's primary responsibility was to guarantee the physical safety of contestants.
There was absolutely no way they would reject a participant's demand to speak face-to-face with the committee and just force them to continue — that defied all protocol.
"Everyone, destroy the live-stream cameras, including the ones inside our cockpits."
With that, He Siyu grabbed the "little bee" stuck to the cockpit wall and smashed it hard with the hilt of her knife.
"Contestants must immediately cease destruction of cameras!"
"Contestants must immediately cease..."
The "safety officers" aboard the flyer above First Military Academy were growing flustered — in human memory, this kind of situation had never occurred. Should they counterattack right now? Fumbling for the communicator,
"Chieftain, they —"
"Wu Pingzhuo!"
"Copy!"
Wu Pingzhuo swung the electromagnetic cannon barrel toward midair — Leola's x-ray radar was a godsend!
"Boom! Boom!"
The flyer was hit. Kes raised an eyebrow slightly, watching the chaos erupt at First Military Academy's position.
"Counterattack. Take out all of them except the mech engineers."
"Yes!"
The rescue flyer finally dropped its stealth mode — the two soldiers could now identify enemy positions with the naked eye.
But the flyer managed to dodge their second wave of attacks, and its own onboard cannons swiveled toward First Military Academy...
"Damn! They won't get any justification, so they're just going to exterminate us!?"
As those words tore out of his mouth, Wu Pingzhuo smashed the last camera inside his cockpit.
First Military Academy's live feed went fully dark, every frame lost.
Meng Chongyun, aboard the star cruiser racing toward Blizza with his warriors, became frantic — skirmishes had already begun on the surface...
"How much longer until we arrive?"
"Reporting to the Chief of General Staff: at full speed, without encountering any obstacles, one hour and thirty minutes."
"..."
