ALL NOVEL Chapter 210 - Hidden Section
“Eh? Did someone really try this? I thought I wouldn’t need to use this hidden section.”
In the bustling backstage of the audience area, there was a fairly large operations darkroom, its existence hidden by the surrounding audience seats and nearby buildings, making it difficult to detect. Moreover, the area was surrounded by dozens of military personnel, either overtly or covertly guarding it, all under orders to prevent anyone from entering or leaving before the competition was officially over.
Upon entering the operation darkroom… Though it was called a darkroom, it was merely a dimly lit space. If someone were to look inside from the outside now, they would see plenty of light. These lights all came from hundreds of light screens on the front wall, each one showing projections of this competition, without missing a single moment, even capturing the most insignificant corners.
This setup was far superior to the central screen outside, offering more perspectives, enabling clear and accurate observation of every contestant’s actions, and even adjusting as their positions shifted.
“Still, the equipment from the Capital is impressive. Our school should have installed this system long ago. It would be so much better now,” a man muttered while staring at the large screens. His hands were constantly moving on the massive control panel, though it wasn’t clear what he was doing.
This man was Professor Dennis, the chief designer and supervisor for this orienteering competition.
Principal Jason believed that the reason Dennis agreed to help was due to the large sum of money the school offered. However, that wasn’t the case. It all started with a private conversation the Mace family had with him not long ago. They wanted to hire him to design the orienteering competition for the Beska Intermediate Academy.
Feeling something was off, Dennis contacted higher-ups, and their response was that it was fine as long as he kept a close watch on things. So, Dennis took on the commission.
Of course, he accepted the school’s generous payment. Dennis was satisfied with the amount, considering it as compensation for the nights he had stayed up working.
However, the old equipment he initially worked with when designing the competition was so poor and outdated. Not only did it fail to ensure the students’ safety, but it also limited his control over the overall pacing of the event.
Dennis never settles for less, so he immediately reported the issue to the Mace family. As a result, he received a set of advanced surveillance equipment, which he considered a benefit he had secured for the school.
Dennis even felt a little smug, thinking to himself that the Beska Intermediate Academy should thank him. If it weren’t for his cleverness in getting the equipment from the Mace family, they might never have had access to such advanced tools.
The Mace family was a powerful family within the Third Legion, while the Beska Intermediate Academy was a talent base for the Eighth Legion. At first glance, they seemed completely unrelated—
But here the Mace family was, inexplicably reaching out and trying to do something… Ha-ha. They certainly didn’t expect that Dennis, a mid-level Mecha Engineer from the Capital’s Mecha Association, would be affiliated with the Eighth Legion. Hmph, he was definitely going to help his own people.
Fortunately, after further investigation, he found out that they weren’t trying to poach anyone; they were likely just trying to send something for the kids, which explained their secretive approach. Dennis finally relaxed and set about completing the commission.
Really… these big families are such a hassle. Even when they want to do something, they have to take such convoluted routes. If it were up to him, he would have preferred they just gave him a sum of money and commissioned him to build a custom mecha for them. Why go through all this fuss and give away so many things?
Of course, these were just Dennis’ thoughts. As long as it didn’t harm the interests of the Eighth Legion, he was willing to take advantage of a little benefit for himself. After all, he wasn’t going to work for free.
As for the Eighth Legion, wasn’t he the one who got the Beska Intermediate Academy a set of the Capital’s latest surveillance equipment? The task was not just completed… it was actually over-achieved, so he couldn’t be blamed for that.
The students had to stay on the field for thirty-six star hours, and as the main designer of this competition, Dennis had to stay for the same thirty-six hours to ensure the event went smoothly and without major issues.
But the students’ fighting and battles couldn’t possibly attract Dennis. He was a mecha enthusiast, and another hobby of his was accumulating wealth.
He was different from those mecha soldiers who were obsessed with combat and battles. He’d rather stay in a lab researching mecha parts than watch any intense fighting.
So, being stuck for thirty-six hours here was a bit difficult for him.
After spending so much time here, he began to feel a little bored, so he started finding ways to amuse himself. For example, he would tweak a mechanism to change the rhythm of the event, or make small adjustments to introduce some harsh realities of society for the students to experience early on. Or, on a whim, he might adjust a mechanism to increase the difficulty and fun of the activities.
In short, the various challenges Jiang Hui and the others faced in the training grounds were all due to this person’s mischievous nature, and he had plenty of fun watching the spectacle.
After releasing some simulated water and triggering the mechanism, the supply points, as he expected, didn’t leave many people behind. Only a few hundred remained out of the four supply points, and the rest were thrown out.
The remaining kids were rare, and Denis didn’t intend to make things too difficult for them, so he decided to follow the original plan and use the boxes to deliver some resources.
Everyone peacefully chased after the boxes and grabbed resources. Compared to the earlier tasks of finding the main energy blocks, navigating mazes, and dodging water hazards, this was much simpler.
But he didn’t expect that someone would actually come up with a clever trick in such a simple stage.
The many tracks and the rolling rocky valleys of the cave didn’t really serve much purpose. Dennis only wanted to increase the visual appeal of this supply point, to fool the kids a little and make it not so easy for them to get resources.
He hadn’t expected anyone to be able to cover such a large area in just two star hours. So, the resource delivery routes were designed according to the distribution of the crowd, and he manually adjusted to send resources in batches. This is why the earlier group of people thought the resources appeared randomly.
But in the end, Jiang Hui and the others completely ignored the usual path and used the box as a mode of transportation.
This was completely… actually, there really is such a way to play. When Dennis designed this, he had a sudden flash of inspiration and thought about it. The tracks for transporting the boxes were originally based on an ancient piece of technology from the Old Humanity era, also known as the “X-Over Car” from the mother planet’s time.
He had looked at the restoration materials at the time and found them quite interesting, but he felt it wasn’t suitable to include it in the orienteering competition. So, he modified it, changing it to transport resources instead of people. But he also felt it was a bit of a shame, so he designed a hidden element, thinking that if someone really came up with the idea of wanting to ride the “X-Over Car,” he would definitely reward them with a big surprise.
—To celebrate the rare moment when their imaginative thoughts aligned with his own.
Watching the three figures jumping up and down along the tracks, Dennis’s eyes quickly glinted with a flash of light, and he pressed the button at the farthest corner on the top right. A slow smile crept up at the corner of his mouth.