Cosmic Demon

Chapter 165 Night is coming, it’s time to hunt!
"The Fourth Regiment has arrived in Hengzhou? The millennium-long war on the border is over!"

Chen Ruofu was shocked when he heard this. He didn't expect that this time the Hengzhou Martial Arts Association restarted the wilderness trial, and there was such a hidden story behind it.

Then, the top leader of Tai'an sensed a sense of crisis. The central city received the news but did not leak it out until this moment, which clearly meant to isolate himself and the Tai'an metropolitan area.

"Someone in the upper echelons of Central City wants to knock us?"

Chen Ruofu is an old and experienced man with a very keen sense of smell.

He squinted his eyes and glanced at the two representatives, thinking secretly:

"Zhou Yuanchen represents the Central City, while Ji Yuqi and Pei Han represent the urban area. The Wushu Association and the Education Department both strongly support Zhou Yuanchen and put him in the top 100 competition, probably with the intention of telling the military and Dongxia that the strength of the Central City is unquestionable and is the highest level in Hengzhou."

Fang Butang picked up the enamel cup on the table, drank a sip of the steaming tea, and then said to ease the atmosphere:
"Old Chen and I have always supported the Central City's resolution, and we also respect the Education Department and the Martial Arts Association, but isn't it too radical to suddenly take such a big step? The death quota of 50 people means that we have to accept that half of them will die.

Dear representatives, it is not easy for schools to cultivate good talents. Besides, they are all born and raised by their parents. Who can tolerate their children dying inexplicably? When the public is excited, I am afraid it will be a mess. "

Representative Li is a senior member of the Wushu Association. He nodded and explained:

"Your concerns are not without reason. The intensity of the Great Crusade is far less than that of the previous millennia. Since it is not a war era, it is indeed easy to cause resistance if it is so bloody and cruel.

Minister Chen, and Commissioner Fang, please rest assured. The Wushu Association and the Education Department have arranged a professional rescue team. We only applied for a death quota of 50 people considering the worst-case scenario. It does not mean that we have to sit back and watch those children die tragically. "

Another Zhou representative also spoke up:

"The Great Rift Valley was once a battlefield during the pioneering period of Hengzhou. It is heavily polluted. Many esoteric cult members and martial artists with deformed flesh and blood use it as their base. It is undeniable that for contestants below the non-professional level, the danger is quite high. Therefore, every contestant wears a watch terminal before receiving the equipment.

That thing is normally in standby mode and is not subject to electronic interference. If it encounters a strong enemy that it cannot deal with, it can send out a signal mark to break through the blockade. Nearly twenty rescue teams are on standby at any time, guaranteed to arrive within fifteen minutes. "

Fang Butang was still hesitant. As the head of the Education Committee, he had to deal with Qiguang Hengda and other universities, so the pressure would be even greater:

"Fifteen minutes, Representative Zhou. The risk factor is still very high. There is a possibility of accidents..."

Representative Zhou looked normal, but his tone was much calmer:
"Commissioner Fang, you have to know that in recent years, fewer and fewer graduates from the martial arts department of Qiguang Hengda have been selected to join the military academy and serve in the war group. As a first-class university in Hengzhou, you are completely inferior to Linzhao Haida and Yazhou Yangda of the same level.

Fifty years ago, Qiguang Hengda was the favorite place for all the major regiments to recruit students. If Taian's students can't even distinguish the most basic enemy strengths and weaknesses, and just act like fools, and can't protect their own lives... Please forgive me for saying that it's unpleasant, but it's only natural that they were screened out."

Fang Butang was speechless. Now it was Chen Ruofu's turn to smooth things over:

"The Fourth Regiment's rotation period is over. Who will replace them? In the past thousand years, I remember that the Fourth Regiment repelled nearly 300 major attacks. The record is very good. When those legion commanders return to the Imperial Capital, they should be awarded medals."

Representative Li didn't want to make things awkward, so he took over the conversation and said:

"The Fourth Regiment will still hold the first line of defense at the border. This time they are resting and reorganizing the army. In two years, they will enter the border war zone. As for the replacements, the Ninth Regiment will take over the defense for the time being.

It’s the same old rule. Everyone says that the Fourth Division has bad luck. In four millennia and four rounds of battles, they only got three. There’s really nothing they can do about it.”

Chen Ruofu did not continue to elaborate. The long-term rotation of the Fourth Regiment has resulted in a high casualty rate, which is a sensitive topic that the military is tacitly aware of.

As everyone knows, most officers from the Fourth Regiment have violent tempers, stick together tightly, and have a sense of belonging and honor that is rare in other regiments. If they move one person, they will pull a group together, and even the patrols dare not go too far.

There was once an incident where a division commander personally led a group of people to smash the garrison patrol office to pieces.

The cause was simply a few low-ranking soldiers serving in the 4th Regiment who were having a meal and drinking in the cafeteria before being discharged from the army and were caught on the spot by the patrol team.

Due to pushing and physical conflicts during the process, several low-level soldiers were handcuffed to the security area and punished by being put in solitary confinement for twelve hours.

Then, in less than six hours, the division commander arrived with a large number of troops. According to rumors, he even mobilized a newly renovated warship and pointed its guns directly at the gate of the garrison patrol office.

The most outrageous thing is probably that after the incident was over, the division commander was not held accountable, and the military top brass seemed to have a subtle tacit understanding and turned a blind eye to it.

"The Fourth Regiment is the elite of Dongxia, a strong army that has fought many battles. The Governor-General must treat their visit to Hengzhou with respect. I hope that in this Top 100 competition, a few outstanding talents will emerge, so that the military will know that our Hengzhou students are no less capable!"

Chen Ruofu set the tone, accepting the two representatives' opinions.

His gaze returned to the monitoring screen set up at the command base. Due to the extremely serious electronic pollution in the wild, there was no way to spread drones or activate satellites to obtain real-time images.

Only flashing dots of light were displayed on the screen, each representing a contestant. The core area was placed first and began to move quickly, followed by the middle area, and finally the outer area's turn.

In less than twenty minutes, the first cry of abandonment was heard, and the electronic mark suddenly lit up like a torch.

The rescue team prepared by the Wushu Association set out immediately. Half an hour later, the contestants successfully left the Great Rift Valley and were sent to a temporary medical center for treatment.

This made Chen Ruofu and Fang Butang both breathe a sigh of relief. The Hengzhou Martial Arts Association still had some sense. The fifty death quotas were too horrifying, and it made the two big bosses in the Tai'an metropolitan area tremble with fear.

"Zhou Yuanchen's points are increasing very quickly, far ahead of others."

Representative Zhou is proud of this, as this genius is a new star strongly promoted by the Education Department and also has the support of the Ying family.

If nothing unexpected happens, there will be no suspense about winning the championship!
"He was dropped into the core area. According to the information provided by the Inspection Department, the main alien creatures there are 'Cyborg's Sons' and 'Skull Swarms'. Killing one will give you about 20 points.

The middle level area is almost there. The 'Rust Beast' is not very aggressive. It is not difficult to kill it if you are familiar with its characteristics.

As for the periphery, it is tricky. There are suspected secret followers and corrupt martial artists active there. If you are unlucky, you may be eliminated directly. "

Fang Butang analyzed.

Using the Great Rift Valley as a trial battlefield was a serious consideration.

The terrain and environment here are harsh and the survival difficulty is high, which can test the contestants' adaptability and true strength.

"Hey! Why are the light spots in the outer area gathering?"

Representative Li suddenly raised his eyebrows and fixed his eyes on the huge screen.

"Looking at their movement trajectory, it looks like they are forming a circle! Who are they planning to hunt?"

Chen Ruofu's face darkened slightly. The Ying family's big hand was really everywhere. Since secret plots and assassinations didn't work, he used the tactic of throwing money around to stop Qin Shi.

"The center of the encirclement seems to be a contestant named Qin Shi."

Representative Zhou raised his lips and said with a smile:
"I think he was in danger, and the other contestants came to help him. It's only been less than an hour, is this Qin going to be the second contestant to be eliminated?"

……

……

The process of being dropped was very similar to a game Qin Shi played in his previous life. He followed the sequence, put on the parachute bag and jumped down.

The top 100 competition does not encourage fighting and competition. After all, they are all the Republic of Dongxia, and they should pay more attention to human rights. The naked cruel education of raising Gu is too barbaric and does not conform to the guidelines set by the Education Department. Qin Shi landed safely, cut the rope of the parachute bag with a knife, and found an obstacle to cover his body to avoid being attacked.

The temperature inside the Great Rift Valley is much higher than outside, about 50 degrees. The wind blowing in the air seems dry and hot, evaporating all the moisture in the human body.

The ground under his feet was dark red. Qin Shi grabbed a handful of soil and slowly crushed it into particles of uneven coarseness and fineness.

"The temperature difference between day and night is huge, the climate is bad, soil erosion occurs, and the land is as barren as saline-alkali land. What kind of creatures can survive there?"

He searched his memory and found that the manual clearly stated that the material he needed to collect was the stomachs of the carnivorous beasts in the outer area.

That thing can extract a certain substance, which is the main material of the implant developed by Central City.

"After all, you're still working for someone else."

Qin Shi sighed, tightened his tactical backpack, and quickly drew a route based on the contents of the manual he memorized in his mind.

"It's quite difficult to reach the middle level. We have to pass through a nest that is suspected to be occupied by cultists, and then go through an underground cave..."

After a short rest, Qin Shi silently ate two protein bars to replenish his energy, slowly operated the baking furnace method to keep his breath at its peak, and then began to move.

Before participating in the Top 100 competition, Lao Liang told him that when surviving alone in the wild, the first thing to pay attention to is to conserve physical strength, followed by food storage and danger prevention.

"It will be dark in another hour. I just need to rush to the edge of the lair and rest there. Then I can fight through it the next day, plunder the supplies of the secret followers, and set aside eight hours to collect materials. Save enough energy for the middle area, where groups of 'Rust Beasts' roam."

Qin Shi leaned forward, lowered his center of gravity, and stepped quickly over the rough soil. Even though the hot air currents containing trace amounts of toxins were inhaled into his body, it had no effect on him.

……

……

"Zheng Jun, are you sure you can locate the direction of the heir of Nanhuang Dojo?"

On the other side of the Great Rift Valley, a small group that chose to form a team completed the meeting according to the agreed method.

They consisted of five men and one woman, all with vitality above 80 points, and all were recommended by large companies in the central city.

Among them, the red-haired girl named "Zheng Jun" seemed to be the core figure. She squatted down, put her hands on the ground, closed her eyes and felt it.

After a moment, he pinched a handful of soil and rubbed it with his fingertips, tasting it carefully. Finally, he lowered his body and pressed it tightly, as if listening to something.

"To the north, the distance is not very far, but he moves very fast, we must catch up quickly. Just as we thought, he must be heading for the middle area, we can just wait for him."

Zheng Jun did not explain but gave the answer decisively.

The other five people exchanged glances and chose to believe it.

They all knew that Zheng Jun practiced a special technique of locking energy, called "Thousand Mile Soul Locking".

When they gathered just now, Zheng Jun kept staring at Qin Shi, quietly collecting that abnormally boiling "energy".

The purpose is to deploy it to the outer area, sense it, and lock the direction.

"Then I can send a letter to Old Wu?"

The young bald guy in the team said.

He also accepted benefits from the Ying family and received a lot of resources from them, so he had to do something.

"Let's send it out. We don't need to worry about the rations. We will eat them all and travel overnight. Then we will reach the only way to the central area first and wait for the successor of Nanhuang Dojo to deliver them to our door!"

Zheng Jun gave orders in a decisive tone, then took out a protein bar and nutritional paste from his backpack and ate half of them without changing his expression.

The others did the same, discarding their weights and leaving only the water bags they could carry with them, and quickly moved towards their goal.

……

……

Zizi!

An arc of electricity leaped, and the knife flashed suddenly, cutting open a huge flesh-and-blood creature that looked like a wolfhound.

Its limbs are abnormally strong, with sharp metal claws on its forelimbs and its hind limbs transformed into curved mechanical structures to increase its jumping and sprinting capabilities.

The surface of his skin was covered in blood vessels and scars, as if it would burst at any moment, and his forehead was inlaid with glowing red crystals.

As Qin Shi swung his sword to cut off the head, the head, which was twice as large as a basketball, rolled to the ground. However, the blood and flesh activity contained in the body still made this "wolfhound" creature that had undergone extensive transformation struggle several times before it died completely.

"We are not far from the lair of the secret cultists. This 'war mastiff' is obviously the result of some 'blood and flesh secret technique'."

Qin Shi used the tip of the knife to pick out the dull red crystal on his forehead, which was also a points option. He put it into his backpack, then stomped on his head to crush it to eliminate other hidden dangers.

He found a dry cave, confirmed that there were no living creatures inside, and began to rest there.

The forty-minute forced march covered dozens of kilometers, which was quite physically demanding.

"It would take at least five days to completely penetrate the thousand-kilometer Great Rift Valley, but we only have two days' worth of rations. From an environmental point of view, it's not very likely to get food here. It's too barren, and most of the organisms are contaminated and modified."

Qin Shi wondered, could it be that the Hengzhou Martial Arts Association was advocating that the contestants compete against each other?
He closed his eyes and meditated to better recover his body. While his mind was focused on his inner world, he suddenly caught a glimpse of an extremely faint breath fluctuation.

This is not a psychic mark and will not be reflected in the mind, so it is very hidden and almost overlooked.

"It's actually Qi locking, the technique is very exquisite, a bit like the Thousand Mile Soul Locking mentioned by Lao Liang."

Qin Shi raised his eyebrows slightly, then grinned and said:
"I hope they can leave some rations to fill my food shortage."

He sat against the wall. The sky outside the cave gradually darkened. The originally scorching temperature suddenly dropped. Waves of chill drifted around, condensing into bone-chilling frost.

"It's hunting time."

Late into the night, everything was quiet.

Qin Shi suddenly opened his eyes, holding the perfect-grade electric shock saber and walked towards the direction of the sensing.

He was getting hungry again, and a few protein bars were not enough to fill his stomach.

(End of this chapter)