Chapter 144: We’re All on the Same Side

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That was essentially how the first stage worked.

Hostages were worth between one and five points. They did not require combat, but were either enormous or had peculiarities—like the sloth—that made them difficult to move.

Fugitives were worth between two and ten points. Dealing with them required a certain degree of combat ability, and they often joined forces to guard hostages, forming little hideouts like this one.

Every so often, a lone fugitive would pass through the corridors, but they were difficult to capture. Both speed and tracking ability had to meet the necessary standard.

Some of those playing the roles of hostages and fugitives were relatively safe mutated birds and beasts. Most, however, were pets raised by the people of River City.

They might be utterly defenseless before Ye Chao, but if another student encountered them, it was by no means certain who would emerge victorious.

The badges around their necks provided the clearest indication of their strength.

One or two points generally represented something a one-star student could handle.

Three, four, five, or six points corresponded to two-star strength.

Anything worth seven points or more began at the three-star level.

However, the examiners were crafty. From time to time, they would hang a three-star badge on a one-star pet—or do the reverse—while leaving enough clues for candidates to tell the difference.

It gave weaker candidates a chance, while teaching overconfident ones a lesson.

Although the hostages and fugitives would return after being “rescued” or “eliminated,” and the same scenes would play out again, they would rotate through different examination zones each time they returned.

There were a full sixty examination zones, which meant returning sixty times…

That lop-eared cat might be making quite a show of itself now, but after a few more rounds, it would realize that being a stage actor was no easy profession. Film and television actors were the ones who truly made money lying down.

Based on the students’ average scoring rate and the efficiency with which the hostages and fugitives rotated into service, one could roughly estimate that a score of 120 or more should ensure survival, while 200 or more would count as an excellent result. Three-star candidates would most likely reach 300 points or even higher.

As he gathered intelligence and analyzed the situation, Ye Chao casually finished drawing maps of Examination Zone 33 and the adjoining zones.

“What we really need to watch out for is the final stage!”

The fugitives’ badges could only be turned in at the end. That was also when everyone would have accumulated the greatest number of badges. One careless mistake could mean delivering the whole package to someone else and making them enormously rich in a single stroke.

Still, this examination was not a true battle royale. There was no need to carry the badges one had collected. They could be hidden somewhere and retrieved when it was time to submit the results…

That tested everyone’s ability to hide things—and to find them again.

Another option was for a group of weaker candidates to gather together and defend themselves as the deadline approached, preventing stronger candidates from openly plundering them.

Some clever candidates might even transfer to another examination zone and submit their results at one of its other exits—the sensitive one.

The badges from different zones had different designs and were not interchangeable, but nowhere did it say that candidates had to submit their results in the zone where they had taken the examination.

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Just as the streamers had said at the beginning, this examination really was extraordinarily comprehensive. There was quite a lot to it!

“The final stage certainly deserves attention, but… do you really think you’ve considered everything?” Alpha poked Ye Chao, reminding him as she watched him rush about nonstop—one moment firing cannons, the next building models, then lecturing, then compiling statistics.

“Like what?”

“For instance, it’s common for the strong to prey on the weak, but if the weak join forces…”

Alpha was still speaking when, all at once, a group of candidates burst out of the corridor ahead. They emerged eerily from the dead leaves beneath their feet, the cracks in the walls, and the square pipes overhead, like cockroaches, before scattering in all directions with a great uproar.

They had laid an ambush, hoping to catch a fat cow and fatten themselves up. They had never imagined they would run into a terrifying cow instead.

Alpha fell silent.

She pointed at the fleeing group.

“Something like this.”

“You mean the eight-man group led by Jing Xin, who ranked third and planned to join forces against me at Civility Square?” Ye Chao asked carelessly.

Alpha froze.

She had meant to use that information to startle him. She had never expected…

She nearly fled in panic alongside the cockroach-like group from moments before.

“H-How did you know?” You’ve been busy every moment, inside and out, before and after the examination began…

“Oh, two of them are students from my assignment group.” Ye Chao spoke with the confidence of a teacher whose students were scattered across the world.

“…”

A check of Ye Chao’s chat history confirmed it.

He had known about the matter since last night—not merely since the examination began.

And there were far more than two of them!

Tang Lin, the big-foreheaded cute girl, had said, “Teacher Ye, I’m certain I can persuade one of them.” That was clearly Fu Long’er, ranked forty-ninth. Three people accounted for already.

Then there was Jiong Xiaoyi, the quiet, unassuming fellow who had never made a sound. Who would have guessed that he was an undercover agent too? He claimed to have a ninety percent chance of persuading one person, and a ninety percent chance that the person he persuaded could convince another…

A chain of defections!

Recalling the positions of the eight people in Civility Square, as well as the distances between them and the degrees of familiarity among them, Alpha understood everything. The person Jiong Xiaoyi intended to persuade was Liu Xiaoya, one of a pair of twins from his school. Liu Xiaoya would certainly persuade her elder sister, Liu Xiaoyi…

So five of the eight were undercover agents?

They were all on Ye Chao’s side?

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If they were any more democratic and held a vote whenever something happened, the entire force would be wiped out immediately…

What kind of surprise attack was this? It was clearly five defectors dragging three holdouts along to present a token of submission!

The old Party-state had been gone for more than a century, yet the world still had a sieve this enormous. It was almost comical.

“All right, you—you arrange things however you like…” Alpha felt thoroughly unwell. She hurriedly steadied her worldview and withdrew in shame.

==========

When one was fully absorbed in something, time always passed especially quickly.

Four hours vanished in the blink of an eye.

“All right, you’re free!” Ye Chao waved his hand and opened the little tank, releasing Chang Kongxin.

During those four hours, Chang Kongxin’s small cannon had helped enormously. Ye Chao had effortlessly collected points from more than two hundred hostages, along with over six hundred badges. His haul was extraordinarily rich.

The feeling of freedom… was wonderful!

Breaking free of his confinement, Chang Kongxin rose to his full height. The sky was vast, the earth broad, and he was free to race wherever he pleased!

“Ye Zichao, you won this time! But one day, I’ll defeat you!” Chang Kongxin stretched his cramped limbs, exhaled several breaths of pent-up frustration, and pointed at Ye Chao as he declared his lofty ambition.

“All right, got it. Good luck.” Ye Chao waved casually and dismissed him.

By now, Alpha was no longer surprised.

People of this era were all like that. Losing ten thousand times did not count as defeat. As long as they won once, they would insist, “I won.” They carried shamelessness through to the very end.

What concerned her more was that four hours had passed. Jing Xin’s group should have begun its operation.

Indeed, it had.

“All right, time’s up. Everyone’s divided the spoils more or less, right? Get ready. We’ll begin gathering soon. Ye Zichao is still in Examination Zone 33, and I’ve marked his location on the map! The surveillance cameras along the route are marked as well, so avoid them as much as possible.”

The people who had come bearing a delivery from a thousand miles away… had arrived!

Yet Alpha had seen the beginning and knew the inside story. She never could have imagined how it would develop!