Cosmic-Level Demon God
Chapter 249 - 164: Nightfall Approaches, Time to Hunt!_2

Chapter 249: Chapter 164: Nightfall Approaches, Time to Hunt!_2

His gaze returned to the command base’s monitoring screen. Due to the severe electronic pollution in the wild, it’s impossible to deploy drones or activate satellites to obtain real-time footage.

The screen only showed flashing dots, each representing a participant. Core regions were initially deployed, moving quickly, followed by mid-level regions, and finally the outermost regions.

In less than twenty minutes, the first sound signaling forfeiture echoed, with an electronic marker flaring like a torch.

The rescue team prepared by the Martial Arts Association immediately set off. Half an hour later, the participant successfully left the Great Rift Valley, delivered to the temporary medical center for treatment.

This allowed Chen Ruofu and Fang Butang to breathe a sigh of relief. The Heng Province Martial Arts Association was still measured—throwing out fifty death quotas was indeed frightening, making the two top figures of the Tai’an Metropolitan Area jittery.

"Zhou Yuanchen’s points are rising fast, leaving everyone else behind."

The representative, Mr. Zhou, took pride in this—this genius was strongly promoted by the Education Department and also supported by the Ying clan.

If nothing unexpected happened, there was no suspense in him claiming the championship!

"He was deployed to the core region. According to information provided by the Inspection Department, the main alien creatures there are ’Cyborg Successor’ and ’Skull Worm Swarm.’ Killing one earns about twenty points.

The mid-level region is somewhat easier—the ’Rust Beast’ isn’t very aggressive, and once familiar with its characteristics, it’s not hard to kill.

As for the outer layer, it’s actually tricky. Suspected to have Esotericists and Fallen Martial Artists active there, with bad luck, one might be directly eliminated."

Fang Butang analyzed.

Choosing the Great Rift Valley as the trial battlefield was carefully considered.

The terrain and environment are harsh, making survival difficult, thus testing the participants’ adaptability and true strength.

"Oh! Why are the dots in the outer region gathering together?"

Representative Li suddenly raised an eyebrow, his gaze locked tightly on the enormous screen.

"From the movement trajectory, it looks like they are forming a encirclement! Who are they planning to hunt?"

Chen Ruofu’s expression darkened slightly. The Ying clan’s influence is truly everywhere. If direct assassination doesn’t work, they use money tactics to hinder Qin Shi.

"The center of the encirclement seems to be a participant named Qin Shi."

Representative Zhou’s mouth curled up in a smile.

"I think he’s probably in danger, and other participants are coming to assist enthusiastically. Less than an hour has passed, and it seems Mr. Qin might become the second player to be eliminated."

...

...

The deployment process was reminiscent of a game Qin Shi played in his previous life, following a sequence, put on a parachute, then jump down.

The top hundred competition doesn’t encourage killing competition. After all, this is the Dongxia Republic, values human rights somewhat, and blatant, brutal education like rearing venomous creatures is too barbaric, not in line with the Education Department’s policy.

Qin Shi landed steadily, cut down the parachute ropes with a knife, and found an obstacle to conceal his figure, avoiding attacks.

The temperature inside the Great Rift Valley was far higher than outside, around fifty degrees Celsius. The wind blowing through the air felt dry and scorching, evaporating moisture from the human body.

The ground beneath his feet was dark red. Qin Shi grabbed a handful of soil and slowly crushed it, feeling the uneven granules.

"Great temperature difference between day and night, bad climate, soil and water loss, as barren as saline-alkali land. What kind of creatures can survive here?"

He searched his memory; the manual clearly stated the materials to be collected—gastric sacs of carnivorous beasts in the outer region.

That thing can extract a certain substance, which is the primary material for implants developed by Central City.

"In the end, it’s still working for someone else."

Qin Shi sighed, tightened his tactical backpack, and quickly mapped out a route based on the manual content memorized in his mind.

"Reaching the mid-level region won’t be easy. I must pass through the suspected Esotericist stronghold, then through an underground cave..."

After a short rest, Qin Shi silently bit two protein bars to replenish energy, gradually circulating the Furnace Technique, keeping his state at peak, and then began moving.

Before participating in the top hundred competition, Old Liang had told him that surviving alone in the wild, the first thing to pay attention to is conserving energy, followed by food reserves and danger prevention.

"It will be dark in another hour. I just need to reach the edge of the stronghold and rest for the night. Then, the next day, break through, plunder the Esotericists’ resources, and set aside eight hours to collect materials. Save plenty of stamina for the mid-level region where there are herds of ’Rust Beasts’ roaming."

Qin Shi leaned forward, his center of gravity lowered, swiftly stepping through the rough soil. Even the slightly toxic, scorching air he inhaled did not affect him.

...

...

"Zheng Jun, are you sure you can lock onto the direction of the Nanhuang Daoist School heir?"

On the other side of the Great Rift Valley, a small team that chose to group up finished their planned meeting.

Consisting of five men and one woman, their Life Force was all above eighty points, all recommended by major companies from Central City.

The red-haired girl named "Zheng Jun" seemed to be the core figure. She squatted down, pressed her hand on the ground, and closed her eyes to sense.

After a moment, she grabbed a handful of soil and rubbed it with her fingertips, carefully tasting it, then lying low, seemingly listening.

"North, not far, but he’s moving quickly. We must catch up with him. As we anticipated, he’s definitely heading for the mid-level region. We can ambush him."

Zheng Jun didn’t explain but decisively provided an answer.

The other five exchanged glances and chose to trust her.

They all knew Zheng Jun cultivated a special Qi Locking technique called "Thousand Mile Soul Lock."

During the gathering, Zheng Jun kept her gaze fixed on Qin Shi, quietly collecting the abnormal boiling "Qi."

The purpose was to deploy it to the outer region, sense, and lock onto his position.

"Should I send a message to Old Wu then?"

Asked the young bald guy in the team.

He had also received benefits from the Ying clan, thus he had to do his job.

"Send it. We don’t need to worry about rations. Eat everything, travel overnight, and get to the pathway to the central region first, waiting for the Nanhuang Daoist School heir to deliver himself!"

Zheng Jun decisively issued orders, then took out protein bars and nutritional paste from her backpack, eating half without changing her expression.

The others did the same, then discarded heavy loads, keeping only water sacks and quickly moved towards their target.

...

...

Fizz!

An electric arc jumped, the knife flashed suddenly, slicing through a giant, wolfhound-like flesh creature.

Its limbs were abnormally thick, with sharp metal claws on the forelimbs and curved mechanical structures on the hind limbs, enhancing its jumping and sprinting capabilities.

The surface of its skin was covered with blood vessels and scars, seemingly ready to burst at any moment. Embedded in its forehead was a glowing red crystal.

As Qin Shi swung his knife to decapitate it, its head, larger than a basketball by twice, rolled to the ground. Despite this, the flesh’s activity within still made the heavily modified "wolfhound" struggle several more times before dying completely.

"Not far from the Esotericist stronghold. This ’war dog’ is clearly the result of some ’Flesh and Blood Secret Technique.’"

Qin Shi used his knife tip to pick out the forehead’s dim red crystal, which was also a points option, putting it in his backpack, then crushed the head with his foot, eliminating other hidden dangers.

He found a dry cave, confirmed it had no creatures, and rested there.

Forty minutes of forced marching spanning dozens of kilometers took a toll on his stamina.

"To cover the entire thousand-kilometer Great Rift Valley completely would take at least five days, but only two days’ rations are provided. Judging by the environment, food is scarce here, overly barren, with most creatures polluted and modified."

Qin Shi pondered if the Heng Province Martial Arts Association was advocating participants confronting each other?

He closed his eyes, meditating to better recover his body. In the state of Divine Residence Inner World, he suddenly detected a weak Qi fluctuation.

This wasn’t a spiritual ability mark— it didn’t reflect within the spiritual context, thus very covert, almost overlooked.

"It’s actually Qi Locking, a very meticulous technique, somewhat like the Thousand Mile Soul Lock Old Liang mentioned."

Qin Shi raised an eyebrow and then smiled:

"Hope they have food left to fill my shortfall."

He sat against the wall. Outside, the sky gradually darkened, the previously scorching temperature dropped sharply, a chill permeated, condensing into penetrating frostiness.

"Hunting time."

In the dead of night, utter silence.

Qin Shi suddenly opened his eyes, gripping the Perfect Level Electric Shock Saber, heading towards the sensed direction.

He was hungry again, a few protein bars weren’t enough to fill his stomach.