【Two… one… Time’s up! Wrong answer!】

Song Jin/Li Xiao: “…”

The rule was that you had to choose an answer within two seconds of the question appearing. Failing to select in time was counted as a wrong answer.

Qian Can and the others: “…”

What the hell?!

Qian Can shouted, “Boss, you aren’t asleep, are you?! Pull yourself together!”

Song Jin said coldly, “Shut up.”

Qian Can reminded him aggrievedly, “The duck poop smell, the little car…”

Song Jin: “…”

Do you think I don’t want to answer? This high-end round was a bit difficult.

After the three-second countdown ended, the second question appeared.

【Question: You and your partner are in a cold war, and the other party suddenly tells you they are going home to pack their things. What do you think they are doing? A. Wanting a divorce. B. Hinting that they want to make up. C. Wanting to stage an ambush and beat you up.】

Li Xiao scanned it quickly and pressed “B.” Almost simultaneously, Song Jin pressed “C.”

【A team member answered incorrectly!】

The screen displayed both answers. Li Xiao looked at Song Jin with a subtle expression: “The question stem said they specifically told you. Isn’t that obvious enough?”

“I’m not blind,” Song Jin said naturally. “So isn’t that exactly what an ambush means? If they were just packing, they would do it quietly—why notify the other person to come over?”

Li Xiao: “…” You win.

Qian Can/Qin Le: “…” Boss, isn’t your blind spot a bit too huge?!

The countdown ended, and the third question appeared.

【Question: You and your partner are arguing about divorce. The partner gets dead drunk late at night and cries, begging you, “Please don’t divorce me, okay?” What do you think they are? A. They don’t want a divorce. B. They are faking it to mock you after you agree. C. Drunk nonsense.】

Li Xiao pressed “A” instantly. Song Jin chose “B” just before the buzzer.

【A team member answered incorrectly!】

Li Xiao found it incredible: “How could this question possibly be B?”

Song Jin snorted, “How can you be drunk from drinking? Laughable.”

Li Xiao: “…” See who’s laughing now?

Qian Can and the others were frantically pulling their hair out in the back. No way—I actually think Song Jin’s explanation is reasonable. It must be our problem!

【Three consecutive wrong answers. This round has failed!】

As the prompt appeared, the floor under Li Xiao and Song Jin suddenly vanished.

Qian Can: “Boss!”

Jiang Hao: “Big Brother!”

The other four tried to reach out, but a moment later, they fell too. The sensation of softness and the smell of duck poop engulfed them. Just as they were about to pass out from the stench, a strong wind blew from below, blowing them and the duck feathers back upward.

Light appeared at the top, and soon the field of vision brightened abruptly. Li Xiao was thrown into the air, backhanded his launcher to bind a high tree branch, and reached out to Song Jin below. Song Jin grabbed his hand and used the momentum to land steadily after a few flips in the air. Da Bei, Jiang Hao, and the other four followed suit.

“Achoo!” Da Bei sneezed violently. “No way, my rhinitis is acting up.”

Qian Can wiped duck feathers off his face with a bitter expression: “Is this puzzle piece really worth it?”

Qin Le: “We can skip the piece, but we must get a car.”

Li Xiao landed and scanned the area. They had been here before; the wind tunnel they just came out of was a dilapidated bronze door that was lying on the ground, now shut tight.

Song Jin walked ahead coldly with a head full of duck feathers: “It’s all because you were dragging me down.”

Li Xiao: “Who is dragging whom down?”

Song Jin: “Who else but you?”

Li Xiao looked at Qian Can and the others: “What do you think?”

The group looked either at the sky or the ground, wanting no part of this topic.

Song Jin: “For the next few days, don’t touch any trivia tasks.”

Li Xiao: “…” Does this kid really not think he answered wrong?

Jiang Hao: “It’s beneath our two bosses to fight at the front. Let us handle small things like answering questions.”

Qin Le and the others looked at Jiang Hao with admiration, giving him a thumbs-up in their hearts. Xiao Jiang, you deserve to be honored!

Li Xiao: “Did you hear that?”

Song Jin snorted, refusing to speak.

At the same time, King Song Yu was watching the live broadcast with high officials, generals, and university leaders. The lively scene had fallen into a bizarre silence because of the quiz. Song Yu couldn’t bear to watch and was thinking of finding an excuse to slip away. The youngest is a emotional intelligence wasteland for the Song family. Could something be wrong with my education style?

“The Fourth Prince is very original in his thinking and not bound by traditional thinking. Very good!”

“As expected of someone raised by His Majesty personally, truly unique.”

“Think about it carefully, the Fourth Prince makes perfect sense! The Royal Academy should update the answer key.”

“This puzzle piece must be given to them!”

Song Yu scanned the room: “If you don’t know how to praise, don’t force it.”

Everyone went silent instantly. God knows how hard it is to force out a compliment.

The Central Military Academy forum and the Royal Academy live stream were flooded with “hahahahaha.”

“It was a divorce quiz—too scary!”

“Is Mortis getting senile? Why create such questions?”

“Quite the opposite—Mortis is sharp as a tack; otherwise, he couldn’t have been the main AI of the Royal Academy for so many years.”

“Song Jin’s short-comings were exposed so abruptly.”

“Li Xiao: My idiot wife—what can I do? I can only make him shut up.”

Inside the competition grounds, the six returned to the off-road vehicle. It was still the same car, but it would no longer trigger quiz tasks.

Qin Le: “There must be other props that trigger tasks.”

After wandering around, the area was mostly empty. Li Xiao led them to avoid snake nests and ant hills, strolling slowly through the forest. By 3:00 PM, they still hadn’t found any clues. Seeing Li Xiao stop abruptly, Song Jin scanned the area and placed a hand on his knife handle.

“Follow me.” Li Xiao signaled them to keep their footsteps quiet.

Not knowing what dangerous mutant beast was lurking, Qin Le and the others entered a state of high alert. A bush rustled, and something scurried out. Li Xiao threw his military knife, hitting the target precisely. Others peeked from behind the trees—it was a pheasant! It had no offensive capabilities. Was there any need to be this cautious?

Li Xiao whispered: “One isn’t enough to eat. Let’s hunt a few more.”

The others: “…” We were like enemies, acting like fools.

Five minutes later, they had four pheasants in their hands. Song Jin looked at the dripping chicken blood with disdain: “This blood will attract every bug in the area.”

Li Xiao headed in one direction: “Don’t worry, there’s nothing nearby.”

Song Jin: “…”

Da Bei was worried: “Is it too high-profile to roast things in the competition venue?”

Li Xiao: “We aren’t going to win anyway.”

Da Bei: “…” Have you already given up?

After circling around and gathering some spices, the six built a small stove by the creek and began roasting the pheasants. Jiang Hao skillfully turned the chickens and sprinkled the spices; a fragrance soon drifted out. Qian Can and Qin Le, two young masters, couldn’t handle such manual labor and could only watch eagerly. Da Bei added firewood. Seeing Li Xiao cut open a fruit and squeeze the juice onto the roasting chicken, he was puzzled: “Brother, what is that?”

Li Xiao: “Spices.”

After being roasted, the fruit juice became intensely sweet. Song Jin, sitting by the creek wiping his knife, originally had no interest in roasted chicken, but was hooked by the sweet scent. After watching for a moment, he moved nonchalantly to Li Xiao’s side and waited.

A moment later, Li Xiao flipped the golden-brown pheasant, blew on it, and under Song Jin’s expectant gaze, took a bite himself.

Song Jin: “Is it good?”

Li Xiao: “It’s alright.”

As Li Xiao took a second bite, Song Jin grabbed his wrist and turned it toward himself, stealing a bite. Although it was on the sweet side, there was no gamey smell at all; it was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, which suited his tastes perfectly. Song Jin reached out and snatched the whole chicken.

“There are plenty more over there, do you have to steal mine?” Li Xiao made a show of grabbing it back.

Song Jin blocked him: “What’s yours is mine.”

Li Xiao: “Didn’t you say you don’t eat roasted chicken?”

Song Jin: “I didn’t say that.”

Qian Can and Qin Le, who were watching: “…” Li Xiao is getting better and better at teasing the Boss.

After eating and drinking their fill, Li Xiao checked the time—it was almost 4:00 PM. He prepared to set off again to find a comfortable place to camp. Faint engine sounds reached his ears. Li Xiao looked toward the sound, and before long, a semi-new sand terrain off-road appeared in the gaps between the trees, driving toward them.

“Holy shit!” Qian Can threw away his chicken bones, his heart aching with envy: “Which team is so inhumane?!”

The car stopped five meters away. Zheng Lin leaned out of the driver’s seat, looking at them with a smile: “Already eating? So leisurely?”

The others in the car poked their heads out, chiming in with laughter:

“Tired from walking? Must be nice to rest early. Unlike us, forced to rush.”

“So envious that you don’t have a car; you can really enjoy the natural scenery.”

“Having a car is such a burden, so annoying.”

Hearing their sarcastic tone, Qian Can’s anger flared up: “If you don’t want the car, give it to us! Give it, or not?!”

Zheng Lin sighed lightly: “Competition rules forbid transfers. We are very helpless too.”

Li Xiao slowly wiped his hands clean: “But the rules didn’t say we couldn’t rob you.”

Song Jin loosened his wrists and looked over: “It’s a bit of a piece of junk, but it’ll barely do.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a familiar voice echoed all around.

【Are you sure you want to rob them?】

Everyone: “…?”

Li Xiao: “? Sure.”

【Starting now, ‘Robbery Mode’ is activated.】

Zheng Lin and the others: “…” What the hell is Robbery Mode?!

The atmosphere suddenly tensed. Zheng Lin could no longer afford to mock them and immediately started the car to run away. However, no matter what he did, the engine wouldn’t start.

“Quick! They’re chasing us!”

“Hurry!”

Seeing that the two sides were about to fight, a virtual screen descended from mid-air.

【Both sides are entering a ‘Quick-Answer Car Robbery’ session. Please send two team members each.】

“Me! I’ll go!” Qian Can rushed to raise his hand before Song Jin could. “Le-le, I’ll pair with you this time!”

Fearing Song Jin would try to answer again, Li Xiao stuffed a fruit into his hand.

“Eat.”

Song Jin: “…” Are you guarding against a thief?

Ten minutes later, Li Xiao’s team had an extra puzzle piece on their scoring device.

【Second puzzle piece hint: Wind City.】

Qian Can opened the back door and waved cheerfully at Zheng Lin by the creek: “Thanks, old buddy, for the little car. Enjoy the natural scenery~”

Li Xiao stepped on the gas and turned the steering wheel, driving away without looking back, leaving Zheng Lin and his group to eat the exhaust by the creek. Zheng Lin and his people watched them go, their guts turning green with regret. They had wanted to show off in front of Li Xiao, but they ended up delivering their car to him, losing all their possessions.

A team member whispered to Zheng Lin: “Captain, what do we do?”

Zheng Lin gritted his teeth: “What can we do?! Go find someone else’s car to hijack!”

Li Xiao originally planned to camp nearby, but now that they had a car, they could make it to the urban area before dark. Compared to the forest, spending the night in the city was safer. Half an hour later, a dilapidated, abandoned small city appeared ahead. They could see many overhead tracks from a distance, likely left behind hundreds of years ago. Unknown vines swallowed the entire city like giant beasts; wherever the vines went, the ground curled and cracked, and the steel twisted and deformed.

Just as they drove in, a virtual window appeared on the windshield.

【Welcome to Wind City.】

【Starting now, enter ‘Battle Mode.’ Being hit by specific weapons counts as elimination. Weapons are scattered throughout the city—search for and seize them yourselves.】

【Special reminder: Using military knives to harm players is prohibited.】

Hearing “eliminated,” Li Xiao’s eyes flashed.

“Can I leave the competition venue early if I’m eliminated?”

If he could leave early, he wouldn’t have to waste time here.

【Eliminated players will have their props cleared and return to the starting point to start over.】

Li Xiao: “…”

Jiang Hao pondered: “That is to say, many people might be stuck in an infinite loop in the first or second level?”

Qian Can: “…And smell the endless duck poop.”

The group’s expressions changed slightly. For that reason alone, they absolutely must not be eliminated!

Suddenly, two Betas in blue-and-white training uniforms darted out from the street, shooting at them with machine guns. Li Xiao stepped on the gas, slammed the steering wheel, and the car body tilted instantly. The back window rattled—the bullets left bright red marks on the glass.

More and more students rushed out. Li Xiao dodged bullets while controlling the car and reminded the others in the back.

“Roll up the car windows.”

Da Bei and Qian Can were sitting on both sides, trying to roll up the windows in the violent shaking, only to find they wouldn’t move!

“The right one is broken!” A bullet grazed the car door, and Qian Can leaned back sharply to dodge.

Da Bei: “Mine too!”

Song Jin observed the situation on both sides of the street and locked his gaze on a spot: “Twenty meters ahead on the left!”

Li Xiao decisively veered into the left side road, turned a corner, and circled behind that group of people. Qian Can and the others thought Li Xiao was trying to avoid the attack, but they didn’t expect him to circle behind and drive straight toward them.

Song Jin aimed, seized a small handgun, and pulled the trigger repeatedly against the group. The students outside reacted quickly and engaged in a firefight with Song Jin.

Bang! Bang! Bang!—

Li Xiao adjusted the direction and speed to cooperate with Song Jin. Jiang Hao and the others in the back had no weapons and could only crouch low to reduce the probability of being hit. Song Jin fired four shots, and four students were hit and eliminated.

The offensive was too fierce. Seeing they couldn’t win, the remaining five turned and hid in a building, escaping the attack range. Li Xiao stepped on the brake and reversed rapidly. Song Jin rested his hand on the roof, turned the gun muzzle, and pulled the trigger on the five who were crouching into the building.

Seeing the elimination notification on the scoring device, the five students wailed with bitter faces.

“I said we shouldn’t challenge them!”

“We have to go back to level one just after arriving—what is wrong with this?!”

Before other teams could rush over, Li Xiao let Qian Can and the others go down to pick up the guns.

“It’s getting dark—this can’t go on!” Qin Le scanned the surroundings; students could be seen moving vaguely in the high and low buildings. This city was surrounded by forests, and there would definitely be mutant insects at night; they couldn’t go without rest all night.

Li Xiao checked the instrument panel. The gas was almost out; it would be even more dangerous without the car. Right now, finding a safe camping spot was more important than finding the second puzzle piece task. Li Xiao quickly locked onto the high-rise building to the north, which had the best view, making it easier to discover danger—whether from players or mutant beasts.

Fighting their way to the high-rise, Li Xiao drove the car into the open gate, stopped in a hidden corner, took the weapons, and signaled for them to go upstairs. On the second floor, Li Xiao heard a slight movement, leaned against the wall, and made a silent gesture to the team.

The surroundings fell silent instantly. A moment later, a gun probed out from the other side of the corner, aiming at Li Xiao. Before the other party could pull the trigger, Li Xiao seized the gun and jammed it under the student’s chin.

The student couldn’t even react, his pupils shaking in terror. “Don’t kill me!”

Li Xiao then remembered it was just a game. Seeing three more students popping out behind, he immediately turned the gun muzzle.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

After three shots, all three students were hit in the shoulder and eliminated.

The three second-years were stunned. What kind of hand speed—so fast?!

Li Xiao fired an extra shot at the student in front of him to finish him off and took the weapon.

“Let’s go back tomorrow morning.”

The students: “…” Too pit-falling!

Past 5:00, the sky turned dark rapidly. Gunshots on the street still hadn’t ceased. They didn’t have many bullets left, so Li Xiao suggested they split into two groups and find some spare firearms. The seventh floor was originally a restaurant, but it was now dilapidated. Giant vines stretched from the shattered windows, extending to every corner along the floors and ceilings; many tables and chairs were lifted and hung in mid-air.

Li Xiao walked through the kitchen, didn’t find any guns, but saw many mutant cockroaches crawling around.

“Searched it all—let’s go.” Song Jin frowned, urging him at the door.

There wasn’t a single window in the whole building that was intact. They found a sheltered corner to start a fire, arranged shifts for night watch, and prepared to rest. Just as they set up the tent, hurried footsteps rang out. Jiang Hao and Da Bei hid at the stairwell with guns.

“I know there are people inside. Now that it’s dark, can we have a truce first?” A boy’s voice came from outside.

Seeing that neither Li Xiao nor Song Jin said anything, Jiang Hao signaled for them to come up. There were over thirty people in the group, including both first and second-years. They were all excited the moment they saw Li Xiao and Song Jin sitting by the fire. A group of Omegas ran over, fussing over Song Jin.

Li Xiao acted like he didn’t see, wiping his military knife to himself, his attention entirely on Lin Zhou and his group, who were diagonally opposite. Since just now, those people had been looking over at him from time to time. It seemed they still hadn’t given up after their last failure.

An Omega glanced at Li Xiao a few times and asked Song Jin: “What do you like about Li Xiao?”

Song Jin was too lazy to ignore them, but seeing Li Xiao completely unresponsive, he felt tempted to test him instead. Hearing this, Song Jin looked at Li Xiao: “Baby, you tell them.”

Seeing the mockery in Song Jin’s eyes, Li Xiao said casually: “Because I am an Alpha?”

The group of Omegas: “…” Who are you targeting?!

Qian Can couldn’t help but laugh out loud. A single sentence killed off a room full of love rivals.

“Did you all hear that?” Song Jin’s tone revealed a hint of impatience. The Omegas felt a chill down their spines, suddenly realizing that Song Jin was already very annoyed with them, and they hurriedly backed away. Song Jin was indeed charismatic as an Alpha, but he was also terrifying—hard to figure out and hard to approach.

At 9:00 PM, most had rested, leaving only the night watchmen of each team sitting by the fire. Suddenly hearing a slight vibration, Li Xiao opened his eyes abruptly, and after confirming for a moment, he walked out of the tent.

Qin Le was on night watch. Seeing Li Xiao get up, he was puzzled: “It’s not your turn yet.”

Li Xiao walked quickly to the broken window. The vibration was indeed stronger, coming from all directions. A black shadow darted up from below, pouncing directly at Li Xiao’s head. Li Xiao drew his knife and slashed instantly. The black shadow landed on the ground, twisting and revealing its true form in the firelight.

Qin Le’s eyelids jumped, and he stood up with a whoosh.

“Mutant Rove Beetles?!”

The mutant Rove Beetle was nearly a meter long. For humans, their entire body was poison; whether stabbed by a poisonous stinger or scratched by sharp claws, it caused skin necrosis and ulceration, potentially fatal. The Rove Beetles loved light, and the windows here couldn’t be sealed. A fire was equivalent to leading them here.

In the blink of an eye, five or six more Rove Beetles stuck to the gap in the glass, scrambling to crawl in. Screams of students came from afar.

“There are bugs—!”

Rove Beetles flew in from other gaps, chasing behind the students. Hearing the noise, Song Jin drew his military knife and climbed out of the tent.

“What’s going on?”

Li Xiao told Qin Le to wake the others first, took a piece of firewood, and poked it at the gap: “Rove Beetles—a lot of them.”

Rove Beetles loved light but feared fire. The group of insects clinging to the glass dropped a few when roasted by the fire, and the rest quickly scattered. But this tiny flame wasn’t enough. As the night wind blew, it was about to go out. Many students were still a bit dazed when they woke up, but they sobered up instantly when they heard about the poisonous bugs.

“What do we do?!”

“There are so many densely packed ones outside!”

“Run!”

“We should just call for help! How can we run with this many?!”

Poisonous bugs flew in continuously, and there were twisting insect carcasses and unidentified splashed liquid all over the floor. The floor was in a chaotic mess. Li Xiao’s gaze swept back and forth between the fire and the tent. The tent material could resist the Rove Beetles, but the key was that a passage of this many poisonous insects would leave behind many—unless they hid inside for a day or two without coming out, they would face being besieged by a room full of poisonous bugs.

“Why are there so many suddenly?!” Qian Can and Jiang Hao waved burning firewood, driving away the approaching insects.

“Is this also one of the hurdles?” Da Bei’s heart was in his throat. “This difficulty is too high, isn’t it?!”

Li Xiao: “Go to the restaurant kitchen.”

Da Bei: “What are we doing there?”

Song Jin: “You want to use oil?”

Li Xiao: “Yes.”

The poisonous insects came from the northeast; the restaurant was in the southwest corner of the building and would not be hit by the insects head-on. After making up his mind, Li Xiao and Song Jin ran to the restaurant quickly. Qian Can tapped on a broken gong, using a universal code to prompt everyone to take shelter in the southwest corner.

In the restaurant kitchen were stacked five large barrels of oil. Li Xiao had the students who followed help, carried the oil barrels to the east window, and poured them down along the outer wall. Song Jin walked to the window and threw the firewood in his hand out with an expressionless face. Instantly, the flames shot into the sky.