CH 89.2

Dwarf’s bonus update starts from this chapter~

Five days later, the advanced civilian spaceship carrying the group landed on the closest planet to F90, B45. All participants from the Federation would gather here before boarding the official spaceship provided by the competition organizers to travel to the official flagship hovering above the competition venue on F90.

They arrived not too early nor too late. Several Federal participants had already arrived and boarded in the official spaceship. Fan Qi was one of them.

“Marshal Chu.”

As soon as they boarded the spaceship, a handsome young man, who appeared to be around the same age as Chu Yan but exuded a much more composed demeanor, approached them. He greeted Chu Rong first and then turned to Chu Yan and Qiao Zhiya, nodding at each of them in turn.

“He is Fan Qi.”

Chu Yan whispered near Qiao Zhiya’s ear, and then nodded to Fan Qi. He toned down his usual exuberant mannerism, appearing much more mature and serious. 

Obviously, the ship’s doorway was not the place to speak. Chu Rong responded to Fan Qi’s greetings, and then asked the staff to give Qiao Zhiya and Chu Yan’s room card to signal Fan Qi to follow them to the room to speak.

Fan Qi nodded and took the initiative to help them lead the way.

After entering the room, they all took their seats respectively. Fan Qi took out a space button and looked at Chu Rong. “5 of the 5 level-ten materials required by Marshal Chu have been collected. However, we’re completely stumped on the last one, the Yellow Leaf Wood1literal translation. OG: 黄叶木. The information we have suggests that the planet where Yellow Leaf Wood originated from was completely wiped out of its vegetation, including the Yellow Leaf Wood, due to radiation damage caused by the Zerg ten years ago.”

Yellow Leaf Wood?

Upon hearing this, Qiao Zhiya was taken aback, recalling the Red Leaf Rock he had received as a reward for participating in the last Star Network Mecha Manufacturing Competition, feeling puzzled.

The material encyclopedia of mecha manufacturing he had reviewed didn’t include the name “Yellow Leaf Wood.” Was it already extinct and forgotten? Now that Fan Qi mentioned both “Yellow Leaf Wood” and “Red Leaf Rock,” and they both seemed to be grade ten materials, what was the connection between the two?

Chu Rong frowned, took the space button and looked back, and said, “Thank you for your hard work. I’ll arrange for the material funds to be transferred to you later, and I’ll also send someone to search for information about Yellow Leaf Wood.” 

Fan Qi hesitated for a moment when he heard this, then suggested, “Marshal, Yellow Leaf Wood disappeared many years before the war, and now even its native habitat is lost. Perhaps… maybe you can try to find other new materials that can replace Yellow Leaf Wood? That might be more promising.”

In the year and more that followed, the Fan family had scoured the Blue Galaxy to help Fan Qi collect most of these mostly extinct level-ten materials for Chu Rong. If Yellow Leaf Wood truly still existed, it couldn’t have gone unnoticed.

Now that the Fan family has sided with the Chu family, he naturally hoped that the Chu family’s affairs would go smoothly. Everyone knew the reason for Chu Rong’s move towards collecting various level-ten materials – it must be to repair Chu family’s damaged flagship. The presidential election was now in front of them. If the flagship could be repaired at this juncture, then Chu Huai’s position as president would be truly secure.

“We have searched for alternative materials.” How can Chu Rong never thought about this previously? The Marshal’s frown tightened, and simply continued, “However, it has yet to bore fruit.” 

Fan Qi was taken aback at first, then frowned. Finally, he sighed inwardly and didn’t say much more, politely taking his leave. Anything he could think of, Chu Rong would have considered. It was he who had been foolish to think he could outthink Chu Rong in any way.

After Fan Qi left, Chu Yan immediately inched closer, appearing worried and asked, “Erge, you didn’t find Yellow Leaf Wood then?” He thought that the Fan family would have a solution.

Qiao Zhiya followed, and frowned slightly.

Chu Rong shook his head and stretched out his hands to pinch Qiao Zhiya’s ears. He didn’t want them to worry about them either, so he changed the topic and took them to lunch. 

At noon the next day, all the participants in the Federation arrived, and the official spaceship set sail and flew towards the official flagship parked above the F90 planet.

At about 6 PM, the spaceship arrived, and everyone got off the ship and rested. 

Probably to prevent any conflicts among the participants before the competition, the officials have specially arranged for the Federation and Empire participants to reside in separate areas on the flagship. Unless the participants actively go out of their way to find each other, they won’t even come across each other.

The competition officials already knew that Chu Rong had accompanied his brother and fiance this time, so they arranged Qiao Zhiya and Chu Yan for a three-room suite in a quiet corner, so as not to disturb others and catering towards Chu Rong’s need. 

Chu Rong was satisfied with the arrangement, while Chu Yan wanted to vomit blood. 

Out of nowhere, when it was this close to the competition, he had to watch his Erge and Qiao Zhiya being all lovey-dovey up close. This is inhumane treatment! 

In order to avoid dog food, he immediately went to Fan Qi’s room after settling down, using the excuse of bonding to engage in a lengthy conversation with him. He lingered until about 10 PM, when Qiao Zhiya fell asleep, before returning to his room to rest.

At 8 AM the next day, all the participants of the Federation gathered and started to draw lots. In order to prevent the participants from forming a team at the beginning of the game, all of them will be spawned in different coordinates at the start. 

After getting their coordinates, the live broadcast of the competition officially began. At the same time, all external communication equipment of the participants would be suspended.

“Remember, safety comes first.” Chu Rong tousled Qiao Zhiya’s hair, then glanced at Chu Yan. After confirming that both nodded in understanding, he frowned and allowed them to enter the waiting area for the participants.

Other relatives and friends accompanying other participants saw that his expression was quite grim. They stopped their chit-chats, and silently walked away from him. 

After entering the waiting area, Qiao Zhiya and Chu Yan were led by the staff into an area with many passages, and then arranged to connect the communicator to the lottery equipment with other participants.

Once the devices were connected, the main screen of the communicator changed, displaying a constantly changing set of coordinate information. Within half a minute, participants could detach the communicator at any time. At the moment of detachment, the coordinates displayed on the communicator would indicate the initial coordinates where the participant would be deployed into the arena.

Qiao Zhiya and Chu Yan glanced at each other after understanding the rules, and detached the communicator.

The screen paused – two flowers appeared on Chu Yan’s screen, while two balloons in Qiao Zhiya’s.

“It seems they’re hiding the coordinates display temporarily to prevent participants from reporting coordinates to each other in advance,” remarked Chu Yan, with a slight smirk. He set down the communicator and gave a smile to Qiao Zhiya, saying, “Looks like we’ll have to meet in the arena. Have you memorized your participant number? Remember to contact me as soon as you land.”

Qiao Zhiya nodded, took the initiative and hugged him, and instructed him, “Safety is the most important thing, and I will meet you as soon as possible.”

Chu Yan hesitated, and clasped his back and patted him on the back, answering: “Understand, me too.”

“Ding.”

After half a minute, the lottery was over, the live broadcast on the Star Network platform started on time, and the mysterious final venue was finally unveiled. All the relatives and friends of the participants took a deep breath. 

A complex terrain map spanning hundreds of square meters appeared on the live broadcast screen, featuring forests, mountains, and virtually every possible landform. What was most terrifying, however, was the dense array of various levels of alien beasts roaming inside.

Rather than a competition venue, this was more like an alien beast’s paradise! 

Chu Rong frowned, tapping his finger on his armchair restlessly. Worried that his emotions would affect other people, he simply put on his seat’s isolation shield. 

The participants who couldn’t see the live broadcast had no idea what awaited them. After the draw, they followed the staff into their respective passages, then boarded the small spacecraft at the exit. Once inside their mechas, they awaited the drop from the spacecraft.

Qiao Zhiya sat inside his Elf, reciting Chu Yan’s number in his mind. Then, when the participant-to-participant communication channel appeared, he readied it in advance, ready to contact Chu Yan immediately after landing.

The spacecraft descended steadily towards the F90 planet. After passing through the atmosphere, an opening appeared at the bottom of the spacecraft, and the mechas parked above began to drop straight down.

Qiao Zhiya was startled but reacted quickly. He activated the mecha’s levitation and scanning functions, slowing down as he observed the terrain below. At the same time, he entered Chu Yan’s number into the communication channel and sent out a message.

In the live broadcast, tiny figures, each the size of a sesame seed, descended from different locations into the competition arena. Chu Rong’s gaze shifted, quickly locating the figures of Qiao Zhiya and Chu Yan among the dots. He immediately switched to their channel, zoomed in on the feed, and selected the mode to follow their movements.

The live broadcast of this competition was different from previous holiday broadcasts. Instead of assigning each participant a separate channel, the broadcast showed the entire competition arena. Viewers could freely manipulate the live feed according to their preferences, choosing whether to watch the overall competition or to follow and focus on the performance of a specific participant.

After the message was sent out, the call application from Chu Yan immediately rang, and Qiao Zhiya connected it. 

“Qiao, did you land yet?”

Chu Yan’s voice sounded a little eager, laced with a hint of tension. It seemed that his situation wasn’t ideal. 

Qiao Zhiya immediately became nervous. “Not yet, what’s wrong?” 

“Then land quickly!” urged Chu Yan, speaking rapidly. “After landing, the officials will send you the complete terrain map and competition requirements. In any case, hurry up. I’ve already received the first task, which is to kill the alien beasts. It should be the same for you. There’s a time limit for this task. If you don’t complete it within the specified time, your coordinates will be synchronized to all participants’ communicators, making you a target for everyone! Damn it! Why are there so many alien beasts in this place?”

Qiao Zhiya frowned upon hearing this, guessing that Chu Yan might be in the midst of battle. He responded crisply before cutting off the communication, not wanting to disturb him further. Then, he found a place with fewer alien beasts to land.

The moment the mech touched down on the ground, a screen popped up on his communicator, displaying the details of the first round of the finals and the time limit. Subsequently, a file popped up on the interface where his mecha connected with the official channel. He quickly accepted it. Then, the complete map of the arena appeared on the mecha’s small screen, with a green dot clearly indicating his coordinates.

There was a task countdown on the screen – he had 60 minutes, but it had counted down to 50 minutes left. In other words, the countdown did not start from the moment each participant landed to accept the task, it should start from the moment they were dropped.

His expression tightened immediately after noticing this.

If a participant, like him before, chose to hover for a while out of caution, he might miss receiving the requirements of the first task. Consequently, he would lag behind others in receiving tasks, then inadvertently waste time during the competition. Eventually, he might be exposed due to failing to complete the task, leading to his coordinates being revealed.

Sure enough, this was a survival game. The competition environment was really harsh.

No longer delaying, he quickly drove towards the crowd of beasts he had observed while hovering. 

It took him half of the countdown timer for the first round for him to finish. Just as Qiao Zhiya was preparing to take a break before contacting Chu Yan again, another screen suddenly appeared in front of him. It displayed a new countdown timer and new competition task.

The new game task was still to kill alien beasts, but now, there’s the restriction of the beast’s minimum level. The countdown was 2 hours, and now he only had 1 hour and 40 minutes. 

He froze, staring at the countdown bar for a moment, and a terrible suspicion erupted in his mind.

It seemed that the countdown timer wasn’t based on the time when the participants were initially dropped into the arena, as Qiao Zhiya had speculated, but rather on the time when the first landed participant received the task. The countdown for the second round would likely start from the moment the first participant completed the first-round task and immediately began the second-round task.

So if there was a strong participant, then the weak ones would definitely lag behind and be eliminated shortly, unable to catch up with the fast pace. 

He didn’t believe that the officials would keep the contestants killing alien beasts indefinitely. When the weaker contestants’ coordinates were almost exposed, it would likely mark the arrival of the real finals. At that point, the officials would probably orchestrate the contestants to eliminate each other. If that were indeed the case, whether or not one’s coordinates were exposed would become a significant factor in determining the final victory of the contestants.

Qiao Zhiya frowned deeply, rushing towards the second alien beasts gathering place.