Chapter 585: Chapter 177: Finals in Progress 1_3

However, the last time focused on clearing the battlefield, eliminating residual Insect Men, and gathering information, without delving too deep.

Using it as the finals arena was a last-minute decision, and analysis suggested the likelihood of an Insect Mother being present was low.

Just basing judgments on the number of Insect Men on the surface wasn’t accurate, which is why Admiral Bai came along to ensure the contestants’ safety.

The giant Acid-spitting Worm has clearly mutated, with a body covered in blister-like human faces, each with a grotesque expression, reminding one that what it devours mostly includes humans.

As the overlord here, the mutated Acid-spitting Worm does not tolerate small Insect Men coveting its possessions.

Wrapping itself around the signal tower, it devours any Insect Men attempting to find food by trying to come over.

"This is the real arena." Mr. Niu felt his eyes were a bit sore, a bit spicy, "Well then, how are you folks in front of the screen?"

The bullet comments ignored him, already shocked by the scene before them, feeling the terror of the Insect Men even through the screen.

"The visuals from the Extraordinary Island project are still too conservative."

"Hey, your streamer hasn’t hit the real mode yet, that’s the real thrill, usually can’t stream it normally."

"Some have tested it, and the difficulty of the real mode on Extraordinary Island is ridiculously high, typical folks can’t take on tasks of that level. Even the hard mode is fairly normal, I tried it, but couldn’t pass even the beginner-friendly mode. Since then, I could only watch video clearances."

"Extraordinary Island has no absolute strategy, one has to grit their teeth and push through, it tests one’s reaction and survival instincts. It feels more real than a game, so many people give up after playing for a bit, failing to pass."

"Who says that? I just couldn’t pass and didn’t stream, I’m just too weak, got to practice and reappear in the public view, right?"

"Learn from the King of Death, he’s only cleared five instances so far, each clearance’s aftermath hits hard, crying uncontrollably. I watch every day just to see how an ordinary person should handle danger."

"The more one plays on Extraordinary Island, the more obvious the difference between a Mecha Master and ordinary individuals, not joking, their reaction speed is way too fast."

"I have a phobia of large creatures, these Insect Men are way too big, did they eat radiation?"

"Watch it later, I can’t watch right now, the urge to pee is unbearable."

The Insect Men around the mutated Acid-spitting Worm covet it with greedy eyes, intimidated by the worm’s strength, they circle around the mutated creature.

This increased the difficulty of eradication.

Their task is to clear out the Insect Men in this area entirely, they can fight solo or cooperate with soldiers, and contestants only earn points upon delivering the final blow to an Insect Man.

Common Insect Men earn one to three points, calculated by artificial intelligence.

Greed earns five to ten points, but the cost-efficiency isn’t high, and the military doesn’t encourage contestants to kill Greed, as the risk greatly increases.

Encountering an Insect Mother or Insect Man Warrior, combat isn’t advised.

Should one insist on fighting, every ten seconds earned in combat is counted as ten points.

As for the mutated Greed, it’s scored based on the difficulty of extermination, not categorized among ordinary Greed.

The roommate Suo Meiya and Wu Qingqing share a support ship, Wu Qingqing is pleased by the coincidence, "Want to team up?"

Suo Meiya hesitated for a moment, then agreed.

Black Wing turned and struck first, attacking the excited Insect Men flying below, Wu Qingqing wielded a tech-heavy "Peak" gun, with a shorter attack range but decent power, and had an interval allowing charging from residual energy in space.

The struck Insect Man froze, Suo Meiya caught up and delivered close-range output.

Wu Qingqing hesitated, with so many Insect Men around, what’s Suo Meiya doing?

To prevent Suo Meiya from being besieged, Wu Qingqing had to clear the cluster of Insect Men around her, creating space for Suo Meiya.

An Insect Man bit into Suo Meiya’s Mecha, "Wu Qingqing, help!"

Wu Qingqing bypassed another Insect Man to assist her, Suo Meiya barely solved one, earning five points.

While Wu Qingqing had already killed seven, scoring two more points than her.

Contestants can view the score rankings; Wu Qingqing turned off the score rankings to avoid distraction.

Unaware of her score, she was determined to clear out all the Insect Men here.

Suo Meiya glanced at the scoreboard, feeling Wu Qingqing wasn’t fast enough to support earlier, despite being so strong, "Why were you slow to act just now, trying to see my real strength?"

"Hmm?" Wu Qingqing didn’t catch what Suo Meiya said, the heavy accent made the universal language sound unclear.

"Never mind, let’s continue." Suo Meiya knew she ranked over nine thousandth, quite a gap with the leading Wu Qingqing, not far behind in points, she thought she could catch up.

...

On the other side of the narrative, Hu Ping coincidentally encountered Suo Meini, but this time Suo Meini proposed teaming up.

Hu Ping declined; it’s a solo competition, teaming up with the Vegetable Farmers team could be considered.

Teaming up with strangers increases danger instead.

Because you never know when a teammate might backstab.

Not roommates, merely acquaintances.

Suo Meini pouted, online they said Vegetable Farmers have good people, good in what way exactly? Of course, she dared not voice this thought, fearing backlash.

Solo competitions have always been fiercely contested.

Now Hu Ping was above the training ground of Mechanical Planet, the emergency entrance that allowed sight of the starry sky had a broken large hole, with densely packed Insect Men floating inside.

The arrival of contestants lured them to drill outside the broken hole, faintly possessing a frenzy.

Some Capital Star viewers hadn’t paid attention to Extraordinary Island before, facing so many Insect Men directly for the first time, especially the virtual scene processed through New World, feeling immensely real.

Grinning fiercely, the Insect Men pounced on the Mechas in space, frightening viewers into closing their eyes.

"Not lacking in a sixteen-ban image, those teeth seem ready to tear me apart."

"Marvelous, my Su Shen, the live streamer, the realism is perfection."

"Adrenaline raising my hairs on end."

"Thanks to Su Shen for technological support, the live-streaming equipment was temporarily developed by her, rendering all regular streaming devices paralyzed."

"At this moment, some surprisingly complain that the military purposefully blacked out their equipment, it’s just that the equipment isn’t capable of resisting a single claw strike from the Insect Men, right?"

"Alright, alright, live-streaming devices must compete now. It’s unfortunate that Su Xiaocai doesn’t sell live-streaming devices."

"Though Caicai is called Su Shen, she’s not a real god; everyone has their limits. Besides, it’s likely that this live-streaming device is easy to replicate, catching wind later won’t bring much profit."

"The previous point is correct, not everything can be monopolized, I’ve dismantled it for research, once I understand it, I’ll apply for authorization."

"The poor are still amazed at the live-streaming device, while those aiming to profit are already researching it."

"Stupid now, aren’t you? These folks aren’t trying to profit, they already have an assembly line and are thinking of production, so to sum up, they’ve already profited."

"Wailing, weeping, those rich big shots are just plain excessive."

Ten thousand contestants and some Mecha Masters are responsible for the main assault, encountering danger, there will be someone to replace and support from behind.

Some Insect Men are incapable of flying in space, they crouch on the ground, clutching the earth, just waiting for prey to rush down, reaping the spoils as a fisherman.

A major battle was about to erupt.

The Mechas clashed with Insect Men, contestants generally possessed strong abilities, though not as cooperative as soldiers.

The choices made by Wu Qingqing and Hu Ping are precisely opposite, piquing audience anticipation for the eventual outcome.

The commentator rambled fluently: "Feels like Qingqing made the wrong decision; the strength gap with contestant Suo Meiya is pretty wide."

Wu Qingqing wasn’t too clear about the strength of Suo Meiya and Suo Meini, just felt that being in the top ten thousand contestants, the skill gap shouldn’t be vast.

Alas, after cooperating, it became clear the gap was substantial.

Soon, Wu Qingqing approached a score of two hundred.

Suo Meiya watched her pitiful thirty points, growing increasingly anxious; the more nervous she got, the more chaotic she became.

Later, she practically didn’t care which target it was, as long as Wu Qingqing had attacked it and left it barely alive, she dashed in for the kill, her score gradually catching up to around a hundred.