ALL NOVEL Chapter 231 - Trap
“…” She knew something felt off.
“What is this?!” Zhou Xiuwen seemed to still be processing the situation. “We’re supposed to be charging the simulation vests for the last quarter of the competition…?”
Although most of their time had been spent resting after leaving the energy points, they had also been continuously ambushing. Naturally, the energy of the simulation vests had been draining little by little, and now, the remaining energy for everyone was running low. They all guessed that the next stage might involve a supply point again. But no one knew what new tricks would be waiting for them this time.
But it seemed like that wasn’t the case… The announcement did indeed come as scheduled at the three-quarter mark of the competition, but instead of notifying everyone to head to a supply point for a resource and energy refill, it was announcing another seemingly unrelated instruction. What was the point of announcing the results now?
Although they were all curious about the rankings, announcing the scores at this point seemed a little out of place—wasn’t the most important thing right now focusing on the competition?
As they watched a virtual screen suddenly appear above the training ground, Huan Xian and Jiang Hui’s expressions instantly changed. Instinctively, they felt something bad was about to happen.
“… Eight, seven, six… two, one.”
The countdown on the virtual screen instantly disappeared, replaced by a long, detailed leaderboard that listed the data of the remaining three hundred or so participants. The rankings were shown in order, with each participant’s position on the school’s overall leaderboard listed, along with their team information—either explicitly or subtly noted—making the entire situation in the arena clear and transparent.
Though the text was small, with the excellent vision of the star citizens, it was easy to read the information displayed.
Jiang Hui’s team saw the leaderboard, and naturally, their eyes were drawn to the name at the very top.
“Jiang!” Xierman stared in wide-eyed disbelief. Although he had suspected that Jiang Hui’s performance would be good—after all, the Jiang student he knew had always been capable—having joined the team midway, he had still underestimated her.
“She’s actually in first place…” Zhou Xiuwen, who had sensed something earlier, couldn’t help but be stunned. Having witnessed Jiang Hui’s almost ruthless hunting moments, he wasn’t too surprised, and in fact, felt a sense of “as expected, it’s the Jiang student I know.”
While the two of them were still reflecting on this, Jiang Hui and Huan Xian, who were more sensitive, instantly felt something was wrong.
To be honest, even Jiang Hui herself had not expected this result. Of course, she wasn’t surprised by her higher score than others, because no one knew better than her that with her initial high score entering the arena, she had already reached a ceiling.
She could have probably stayed in the top 200 of the military competition just by coasting through until the end. Moreover, she had never slacked off during the twenty or so hours in the arena, continuously scoring points and hunting whenever possible. She had done her best to gather personal points, so her high score was not surprising.
What surprised her was the comparison of her score with others. She considered her shooting abilities to be decent, but not extraordinary—at least that’s what she thought. But to her surprise, after deducting the penalty points, her remaining personal points were still quite impressive, enough to place her in the top three.
Yes, being in the top three genuinely surprised Jiang Hui. This sudden achievement helped calm the anxiety she had been feeling for the past few days. It felt like all her efforts had finally paid off. But…
Jiang Hui quickly regained her composure after the initial happiness. “The release of the scores will make some people go even crazier. We’re going to be in more danger.” Actually, it was just ‘she’ would be in more danger.
Especially those who were aiming for the top spot wouldn’t be satisfied with being below her. The competition wasn’t over yet, and there was still room for things to change. Jiang Hui’s gaze lingered on two names just below hers.
If not for the penalty points, the current first place should belong to Huo Qi from Class One.
He alone had over 300 points, making him the only one in the top three to reach the 300s. Clarens and Jiang Hui, after deducting the penalty points, both had just over 290 points, with Clarens ahead of Jiang Hui by two points, securing second place. And Clarens was a solo fighter—he was the only one among the top three who fought alone. So, these two definitely wouldn’t just give up.
Especially Clarens. Jiang Hui knew him well, as they were in the same class. He was someone with a very strong sense of pride, and he also recognized her appearance. If he wanted to rise higher, he would definitely target her.
It wasn’t just Clarens. As Zhou Xiuwen glanced at the positions twenty places above and below his own on the list, he saw several of his classmates. These people would likely target Jiang Hui, and if they crossed paths, it would be a fight to the death.
This is bad.
Jiang Hui could already foresee a chaotic scene in the arena in the next few hours. Oh my god, would they be surrounded by a group of people?
Just as Jiang Hui was considering whether she should put on a mask or something, she heard Huan Xian’s grim voice: “It seems this isn’t all of it. We’re missing an indicator.”
An indicator…
Jiang Hui’s face turned pale for a moment. Surely they wouldn’t be this malicious.
“Boom boom—” A familiar vibration echoed through the entire arena. So, the supply point was finally about to appear?
However, what appeared in the arena wasn’t the supply point everyone had imagined, but several familiar raised square stone platforms. The platforms were covered in a dense array of data, hard to decipher, but she could vaguely make out a few related terms.
But some of the people who had walked out of the supply points and had close contact with the energy blocks immediately recognized them. “Isn’t this the total energy charging block we need?” Could it be that this round was for charging? Have they switched to open charging now?
It seemed quite thoughtful, some of them thought to themselves.
But soon they realized that this wasn’t considerate—it was a blatant trap.
The organizers didn’t want them to leave the arena peacefully; they weren’t going to let them off that easily.
Jiang Hui and her team were relatively lucky. The area they had cleared out just happened to be where the total energy block appeared.
The group felt some excitement from afar. This was exactly what they needed right now. Aside from Zhou Xiuwen, whose energy was at 22%, the remaining energy of Jiang Hui, Huan Xian, and Xierman was all in the single digits, and they wouldn’t last long. If they didn’t get a recharge, they would be eliminated from the arena in less than two hours.
Huan Xian seemed to be walking towards the total energy block.
But unexpectedly, Zhou Xiuwen grabbed Huan Xian’s arm. “Don’t move yet.” He turned to Jiang Hui, who was about to follow: “Everyone, stay still.”