Chapter 192: No Beasts?
Chapter 190
The decision was made.
There was no going back, and there was definitely no room for argument.
Everybody filed out of the shelter with the bulky instructor out front leading the way into the unknown...
’... Wait! Why have I been calling him ’bulky instructor’?’ Ray wondered inwardly as he stared at the rows and tons of Aspirants in front of him.
He made sure to stay with his own squad and didn’t even let the waves of other Aspirants sway him away from his companions.
His perception of his surroundings was on 24/7.
He wasn’t about to allow a sneak attack to catch him unaware.
Due to this constant vigilance, he could feel a few people occasionally staring his way again and again.
Who they were?
He didn’t know for certain.
But he was sure that Berg was definitely one of them.
What he was planning, Ray didn’t know, and under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t have wanted to care.
But he was afraid. What if his plans involved harming Van or Kai?
... Meh... actually, Kai can handle himself, so there was really no need to worry about him one bit.
Trish just kept her gaze fixed in front of her as she walked side by side with Kai.
Turning to glance at the squad for a brief second, she uttered:
"Today, we are taking that number one spot no matter what happens. I won’t tolerate any form of holding back or weakness. All of you should be at the top of your game. I’m not losing that spot no matter what."
The others stared at the girl as she suddenly went silent after her abrupt speech.
Throughout the time they had known her, these were the longest words she had ever uttered.
By the way, why was this whole thing so important to her?
What was with the whole obsession with the number one spot?
It wasn’t as if it would be that easy to get it, though.
Berg held that spot with his squad with a total of eight hundred and ten points, while they had a measly two hundred and twenty points.
How were they supposed to bridge that massive gap?
A beast gives five points while scanning plants gives two points.
Ray had been confused about how the points were calculated, especially since the Aspirants wouldn’t have time for scanning the beasts in the middle of a frantic battle.
But Van had clarified it to him the previous day.
It turns out that the bracelet on their wrists had a sensitive feature in it that allowed whatever beasts were defeated by a member of a squad to be instantly recorded to the system.
It was as if an AI feature was stored in it that tracked this so there wouldn’t be anything like cheating.
What does he know about technology, though?
So when Van had been explaining, he had been dozing off as it all sounded like complex maths in his head.
And he hated maths. It was all too difficult for his liking.
’I mean... wasn’t the subject supposed to be dealing with numbers? Why add letters in it, therefore confusing my brain?
Find the value of X? What is X? Algebra, Bodmas equations? Ugh... come on teach, if your X is missing, how the hell do I find her?’ Ray groaned inwardly as he suddenly felt a headache coming on the more he thought about it.
Kids on Alcatraz were forced to attend schools.
Schools were actually built for them to acquire basic knowledge about the world and other things.
Even though they were in the middle of a looming war, it didn’t mean that education had to stop. In fact, it only intensified.
Maths, physics, and even chemistry were important core subjects along with history.
Right from the start, Ray hated these subjects and was always falling behind on his grades, while Van always topped the class.
Wall Rose had like two schools built for its residents.
Still, Ray tried his best to study.
The only reason he wasn’t withdrawn from school was anything that had to deal with history.
He was good on those matters.
The same applied to P.E. classes.
He always had a knack for action, which was why, when he was much younger, he read a lot of NovelFires, read mangas, watched action movies, and even delved into the forbidden path: watching animes.
They were banned.
Not banned in the sense that they were that forbidden, but unfortunately, the companies producing these shows were forcefully closed down during the chaos.
I mean, who would want to watch a show of a character pulverizing an opponent with a single punch?
Or watch someone summon hundreds of shadowy armies when these feats can be found in real life?
More than half the human population on Alcatraz can already do some of these things.
’Uh... what was I thinking about before losing myself?’ He thought with his brows furrowed, trying to trace back the mental thread that had led him to this point.
’Right... the bracelets thingy. Oh yeah! How were we supposed to bridge the gap between us and Berg?’ He paused his thoughts for a moment.
’... Come to think of it, how had he managed to rack up that amount of points? It’s confusing because that was just the first day.’
Van leaned in toward Ray, his voice hushed against the backdrop of the marching crowd.
"I haven’t seen that friend of yours around since we got to this planet. Is he okay?"
’Friend?’ Ray lifted an eyebrow confusedly.
Then, a second later, it dawned on him.
’That’s right. Felix! I haven’t seen him since we got here. Is he okay? I can’t smell him, and I’m unable to see him due to the sheer size of the crowd.’
Before he could give Van a reply, the sudden change of terrain immediately drew his attention, causing a deep frown to appear on his face.
’We are here. I remember this place from the map. This is an orange zone. Bu-But where are the beasts?’
Where they had reached was an entirely different environment compared to the forest of the vine snakes from the previous day.
This place was almost like a desert, but that was where the similarities ended.
The ground was incredibly rocky and uneven, with jagged stones protruding out of the earth at sharp angles.
Spread apart from one another while still littering the landscape were massive stones buried in the ground that looked like weathered boulders.
These boulders blended with the uneven ground perfectly.
Ray couldn’t even count how many of these formations there were.
The terrain was incredibly spacious, offering a wide-open view of the desolate surroundings.
"Huh? Where are the beasts?" An Aspirant asked as he scanned the horizon with his eyes.
The bulky instructor was also visibly confused by the seemingly total lack of beasts around the place.
Scattering around, the groups decided to observe the area more closely.
There were no obvious hiding spots in this region, so there was no way beasts could hide there without the humans seeing them.
So, what was happening?
After twenty minutes of intensive searching, the Aspirants weren’t getting anywhere; hence, they decided to gather back around.
— This place should be tagged a green zone because it seems that it has been entirely cleared of beasts.
The bulky instructor kept going through the information in his mind, wondering where he had gone wrong with the navigation.
An Aspirant shook his head with a tired sigh and walked over to one of the protruding stones in the ground that resembled the other boulders.
— I don’t know about you all, but my legs feel like jelly after that walk. I need to rest.
The Aspirant pulled himself up and sat on the rock with ease while his legs hovered a few inches above the ground.
Ray turned to face Kai, about to say something, when his ears suddenly perked up.
The faintest of sounds reached his keen ears, causing his eyes to widen in realization.
He spun around to see the Aspirant sitting on the rock and was about to shout a warning, but it was already too late.
Rumble—! Rumble—! Rumble—!
’How hadn’t I realized this after the incident in the forest?’ Ray felt like scolding himself right now as the terrain began rumbling incredibly loudly, causing everybody to go on high alert.
The stone beneath the Aspirant began shaking... trembling so violently that he almost fell off.
— Wha-What’s happening?
Before Ray could utter a word, he heard a familiar, panicked voice echoing through the rocky expanse.
"The stones are alive! They are the beasts!"