As the conveyor belt ca to a halt, Ji You stepped off, expecting to be greeted by a comfortable, soft, clean, and tidy bed, or perhaps a bright, spacious room, or even an impressive dormitory building. Instead, what she faced was—
A stretch of scorched yellow-black earth.
Indeed.
It was scorched yellow, pitted and uneven. At a glance, there wasn’t a single patch of complete earth visible, and the surrounding air was filled with a burnt sll, as if a massive battle had just taken place. The shrubs on the land were also charred in parts and broken in others...
As for a bed?
A room?
Food?
...
There’s none of that.
Ji You found it hard to accept: "This—this is too much, isn’t it? I just ca in here to sleep!"
"How am I supposed to sleep under these conditions?"
"It’s impossible to sleep here."
"And—"
"Where is everybody?"
"Where did everyone go?" Ji You looked around and found no one in sight, as if she had suddenly had a dream and traveled to a new world. The feeling was quite peculiar.
Ji You turned back and glanced in the direction from which the conveyor belt had left. The belt had disappeared completely; since it was a floating type, it had hovered above the ground during travel, leaving no trace. It was as if the riding experience she had just had was rely a fignt of her imagination.
All of this in front of her, the scorched, desolate, barren land, was real.
Ji You furrowed her brows as a terrible guess ford in her mind:
[The competition has already begun.]
[The places to which the conveyor belts transported the students weren’t dormitory areas at all, but—an actual arena.]
As this thought erged, Ji You was utterly annoyed!
Just then, she heard a beeping sound from the contestant number wristband on her wrist: [Dear contestant number 4444, please imdiately take your weapon and equipnt and head to the temporary station. If you don’t arrive on ti within 30 minutes, you will lose 1 point.]
"What the hell?" Ji You frowned. It was a prompt from the competition system, so, of course, she had to follow it. She grumbled but didn’t waste any more ti. She looked around and, aside from the scorched black earth, charred rocks, and ash, she didn’t find her equipnt or weapon. Ji You paused, looking down at her wristband, and asked, "Hey, System, where’s my stuff?"
The wristband remained silent.
Ji You frowned: "Could it be that this thing only transmits ssages one way and can’t respond back?"
Even as she muttered, the wristband remained unresponsive.
Ji You started moving, circling a charred stone, but still found nothing. She couldn’t help but complain, "I an, is this all you have to say? Can’t you give the contestants so hints about the rules?"
The wristband stayed calm.
Ji You said, "Listen, I intend to formally complain to the competition organizers because I ca here to sleep. I was told this was a dormitory area, not a warzone. What you’re doing is serious deception."
"And if I rember correctly, I don’t have Alzheir’s or mory loss. The official start ti for the competition is 8 AM tomorrow." Ji You kept provoking the wristband while carefully searching for her equipnt and weapon.
The constantly quiet wristband suddenly beeped: [Dear contestant, welco to the competition field. Please explore the details of the rules on your own. Moreover, contestant number 4444, your permissions are insufficient; you can only receive information one-way and cannot transmit information. Please work hard to unlock permissions early.]
After that ssage,
the wristband went silent again.
Ji You’s expression turned dark. "Damn! So tricky?"
Just then, Ji You nearly tripped over, quickly regaining her balance with a step back, becoming extrely cautious, and only then did she notice what had tripped her.
It was a black military shovel.
Ji You felt a bad premonition: "Damn it! Is this my weapon?"
With only 10 minutes to waste, Ji You couldn’t afford to delay much longer. In fact, after receiving the prompt, which indicated the temporary station was about 10 kiloters away, Ji You estimated the ti needed to reach it and realized that ti was of the essence. She didn’t dare waste any ti. She imdiately scanned the area with her vision and Spiritual Silk, never expecting to find a military shovel as her weapon.
A shovel made of alloy steel, very hard, durable, lightweight, yet undeniably a cold weapon.
Ji You frowned, realizing she might have fallen into a cognitive trap, her equipnt and weapon might really just be these mundane items, with no cha or energy weapons for her use.
Indeed, once she recognized she was in the wrong mindset, Ji You noticed, wedged in the crevice of stones less than 1 ter from the military shovel, a woven straw coat.
Indeed.
A straw coat made from thatch!
From Ji You’s craftsperson’s perspective, it was crudely made, neither bulletproof nor knife-resistant... only good for slightly shielding from the wind and rain, practically fodder for the fire or pigs, a completely useless straw coat!
Ji You’s face was full of black lines.
She picked up the straw coat, grabbed the military shovel, glanced around at the open surroundings, and then Ji You took off running toward the temporary station!
Whoosh—
Her body moved nimbly and swiftly, creating a slight breeze as she ran across the charred land.
While running, Ji You kept observing the surroundings, noting no change. She had run for quite so ti without seeing any green, making her almost doubt if she was going in circles when finally, a crooked tree ca into view.
Ahem...
Calling it a crooked tree was generous.
Its trunk leaned at odd angles, with its entire body charred black, leaving just three branches intact, all bending to the left. On one of the branches hung a sign, written with charred coal, displaying large letters:
[Infantry Station]
"???" Ji You was filled with bewildernt. Just as she couldn’t make sense of the situation, a gust of wind blew, causing the sign to sway and then fall to the ground with a thud.
Ji You: "Seriously?"
Just as she was utterly speechless, a head suddenly erged from behind the crooked tree and shouted, "Hey there, Fool, get over here quick."
Ji You: "..."
Ji You raised her hand, pointing at herself: "Are you calling a Fool?"
The other person: "..."
anwhile, the military shovel in Ji You’s hand was already hidden within the straw coat.
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